Kolmac Treats 2,000 In 2014

Each year I review the highlights of the previous year at Kolmac, looking at both threads of continuity and changes. For me personally, one significant highlight from 2014 at Kolmac was beginning an organized program of in-service trainings for our staff and participating in treatment groups in each office to maintain consistency and identify ways to improve our group therapy. These experiences have been invaluable to me as I consider our short- and long-term goals as a treatment center.

From that perspective, some of the areas from 2014 at Kolmac that stood out for me were:

• We treated more than 2,000 patients for the second straight year and have now treated almost 25,000 patients since the opening of the program in 1973.
• The distribution of substances our patients used did not change significantly from the past few years. Patients using only alcohol were most frequent at 43%, followed by those using opioids (32%), cannabis (20%), cocaine (9%), tranquilizers (8%), and amphetamines (3%).
• The Kolmac Foundation funded treatment for an additional 95 patients and has now assisted 325 patients since its inception in 2006. This was huge for Kolmacin 2014.

Some of the changes within our treatment program at Kolmac in 2014 were:

• People who had gambling use disorders, without a substance use disorder, were admitted for the first time, and we found they fit well into our treatment program.
• We significantly changed our withdrawal management protocol for alcohol to reduce the use of benzodiazepines and substitute medications which have no addiction potential and are less sedating. This was another important change for Kolmac in 2014.

Our activities in the community included:

• Working to improve the transition of hospitalized patients into follow up treatment by having our clinicians do face-to-face evaluations before patients are discharged. Our clinicians also began doing telephone evaluations for patients in residential areas in more remote locations.
• Collaborating with Hazelden treatment center in their groundbreaking effort to incorporate the use of buprenorphine and other medications into a traditional 12-step residential rehabilitation program.

We also continued our outreach to the clinician community by:

• Establishing a weekly blog to disseminate news about developments in the addiction treatment field. Readership has been building, and average monthly readership now stands at 354.
• Hosting 19 free educational events through the Kolmac School, which attracted a total of 830 attendees. The Louis Kolodner Memorial Lecture was held for the first time at the headquarters of the Maryland State Medical Society and drew 140 attendees.

We welcome your input on how we can continue to be a valued resource for treatment professionals in 2015.

As always, I and the rest of our staff appreciate the support of our patients and referral sources in allowing us to continue to grow and innovate. We look forward to another year of striving to provide excellent treatment and leave the addiction field better than it was last year.

To learn more about Kolmac in 2014 and in the future, contact us.