Aurora BayCare Medical Center, Green Bay, 2020 Community Benefit

Aurora’s Suboxone Clinic Addresses a Significant Community Health Need

According to our hospital’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment, the rate of age-adjusted opioid-related hospital encounters was 311.4 per 100,000 population and drug use ranked among the top five health issues for Brown County.
It’s been two years since we opened our suboxone clinic, located in our Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. Although some community members were skeptical at first, the overall response to the clinic has been overwhelmingly positive since it’s opening.
Many of the clinic’s patients endured multiple overdoses, ICU stays, prison time, and homelessness before their first encounter with the clinic. Through specialized care and overall wellness support, the clinic’s providers have watched many of their patients become sober, get a job, enroll in school, secure safe housing, regain custody of their kids, and live a stable life. Many patients have voiced that the clinic saved their life and feel like the team caring for them is part of their family. They are thankful for the opportunity to build a new life.
Not only have Aurora patients gained access to a care team who specializes in providing effective treatments and dignified care, other community members have gained access too. Through established relationships with other addiction clinics including Clean Slate, Bellin, Comprehensive Treatment Center and Libertas we have been able to collaborate on patient cases and tap into specialized AODA therapy and intensive outpatient services when needed, ensuring appropriate care based on each individual’s needs.
In 2019, 82 patients were treated through 386 visits at the clinic.