Nurse of the year cites changes in addiction problems
By DEBORAH A. MILES
As part of National Recovery Month in September, the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) honored a PEF member for her dedication and commitment to addiction treatment.
Michele Schultz, the nurse administrator at the Margaret A. Stutzman Addiction Treatment Center in Buffalo, was honored as the 2011 Addiction Nurse of the Year. OASAS Commissioner Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez presented the award to Schultz, after she was nominated by colleagues in 2011.
Schultz has worked at Stutzman for more than 30 years and is credited with initiating programs for HIV and Hepatitis C testing. She also developed a program to educate patients and staff about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, as well as those born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Schultz also helped create the workplace violence prevention program at Stutzman.
“For someone to give me accolades for a job I do every day was humbling beyond words,” Schultz said. “It was such an honor. I can’t say enough about the staff at Stutzman. Everyone works very hard with very few resources. Each addiction treatment center across the state has people who are incredibly dedicated in what they do. We all get a little angry about the bad image placed on state workers, because it doesn’t exist in our world.”
Schultz’s world has changed throughout the three decades she has worked there. Stutzman is a 33-bed facility that cares for individuals 24/7. They stay from two to eight weeks. The addicts range in age from 16 to those in their 60s. What’s different in the addiction world today is more and more young people are using heroin. Schultz said a third of the Stutzman population is in the 18-to-25-year-old group, all heroin addicts.
“Along with heroin, opiates are also very big in western New York,” Schultz said. “Consequently, we have seen a lot of deaths from overdoses. Horrific things happen to our patients as a result of the drugs.
“We try to stay ahead of the curve for what’s out there for addiction treatment. We now have a trauma-focused treatment. We try to address the trauma people have experienced in their lives that was the foundation for their addiction. We teach them skills and how to react when they are in the community and something triggers their desire for drugs. We teach them methods they can use to take away the trigger.”
Schultz said the patient clientele has also changed, as many individuals are placed at Stutzman who come from state correctional and mental health facilities.
“We still have people who are volatile and psychotic at times. We are fortunate as we get advance information on our patients, so we usually know who is walking through the door and what sort of stability that person may need.
“I know things are changing, and the state is looking into consolidating mental health with substance addiction. No one seems to really know in what venue. I’m not sure it is the smartest thing to do, because there are nuances that are different. It will be interesting to see how things will change,” Schultz said.
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