The Brilliant Treatment Services Center became the 16th facility Pinnacle Treatment has opened in the state of Ohio, but there is something different about this particular facility for Chris Byers.
As a vice president with Pinnacle Treatment based out of New Jersey, Byers covers areas in Ohio, Kentucky, and Georgia now, but his work to an established similar treatment center has extended across the United States. This time, though, the Brilliant facility is only a few miles from his home in Brooke County.
“I believe most people in this area have heard about all of the overdoses that have taken place over the last two or three months, so this new center opened just in time to make a difference,” he said. “And the rate of overdoses in the Valley has been steady for the last several years.
“In Ohio in 2020, they had the highest amount of overdoses since this epidemic, so it’s not getting better,” Byers reported. “Even though most people have remained isolated over the past year because of the pandemic, the drug abuse issue has gotten worse, and I’m not sure anyone expected that to take place. But one of the reasons for that is that people were unable to hide their addictions.”
At this center, though, the faces could be familiar.
“Because I work in so many areas of the country, I never know the lives that we save,” Byers said. “But with the Brilliant Treatment Services center, now I’ll be able to put a lot of faces on those lives that have been saved. To be able to do what I have done throughout the country and bring it home is very special to me.
You Know Someone
Since the beginning of December 2020, the Ohio County Emergency Management Agency has sent 10 texts warning of multiple overdoses, and that includes five in the month of January alone. Not all of the OD victims survived either.
In many cases, the ODs involved fentanyl as a supplement for narcotics like heroin and cocaine.
“These guys are coming in from out of town, and they are selling anything they have and lying to the buyers,” explained Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard. “We’ve had people literally falling off barstools because they thought they bought one thing, and instead it’s laced with fentanyl.
“Instead of getting better because of all the awareness and all of the attention, it’s gotten worse,” he said. “The companies and the doctors have been put into check now, so this is continuing because dealers are feeding the addictions now. That’s why everyone in law enforcement in this Valley is on alert 24-7, and the drug task forces continue to do the great work they do.”
The Gut Check
Byers has two daughters in college and a son in middle school, and he and his wife are protective as can be during a time when a drug epidemic has been greatly overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The odd thing is that addiction and Covid-19 are both diseases, and most often in both illnesses there has to be exposure, and it takes infection. To remain healthy, it involves avoidance.
But there is also a huge separation when the virus and addiction are compared. While both recovery processes have been extended and sometimes deadly, a craving for Covid-19 isn’t a reality for coronavirus survivors. An addict is invariably an addict.
“And that’s why this treatment center is the one that is going to help my friends and family,” Byers said. “Anyone who has been in this Valley for any length of time knows somebody who has experienced addiction issues or someone who has died from an opiate overdose. It’s unfortunate, but it’s also reality.
“I believe what our company does every day is save lives,” he said. “And with the new center in Brilliant, now we get to help save lives right here in this Valley. That means a lot to me; it really does because this place will offer much more access to the care they need. This one is personal to me.”
