By Caity Coyne, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Transportation challenges dominated conversation during Tuesday’s public forum on the West Virginia substance use response plan, with some participants calling it “the biggest barrier” in connecting people to drug treatment programs.
Services often are unreliable or unavailable in certain areas, many of them rural, participants said. Delays can stretch for hours, sometimes days. For people waiting to get into treatment, that can mean a missed opportunity for entry.
“We need transportation on demand for this clientele. When they’re ready to go to treatment, we have got to have transportation ready,” said Christena Ross, a West Virginia University Health Sciences Center program director who facilitated one of the groups during the forum.
More than 130 representatives from health organizations, recovery and treatment centers, universities, advocacy groups, day-report centers and others, participated in the virtual session, which focused on the community engagement and support section of the state substance use response plan…
