Indiana’s opioid epidemic continues to affect communities across the state. Since 2023, Indiana Health Centers Jackson County clinic in Seymour, Indiana has provided treatment through a Medications for Opioid Use Disorder program. Dr. Vaishali Karnik, who leads the program, recently shared how the program has been beneficial for IHC patients and the Seymour community.
The following is an excerpt from our 2023 Annual Report about this program.
Dr. Ryan Sarver, MD, a family medicine physician in Seymour, approached IHC because he was moving out of state and needed to transfer some of his patients to other local medical providers. Dr. Sarver was working with a group of about 50 MOUD (Medications for Opioid Use Disorder) patients and, recognizing the unique needs of this group, worked with Dr. Vaishali Karnik at IHC to entrust them
to her care.
Dr. Karnik attended continuing medical eduction (CME) courses and shadowed Dr. Sarver to learn the most effective ways to treat patients with addiction. Not only did she need to understand the medicine, but she also wanted to comprehend the underlying issues that lead to drug use. “A lot of it is trauma based,” she noted. “You have to learn to be empathetic and not judgmental.”
IHC Jackson County currently has around 70 patients in the MOUD program. Some were existing patients before 2023, and some have been referred by local hospitals or by word of mouth. IHC has a good relationship with the staff and case manager at Schneck Memorial Hospital and they will refer new patients to IHC as needed.
When a patient first establishes care with Dr. Karnik, she will ask if and how long they’ve been in treatment and their history of accidental or intentional overdose, as well as answer questions and talk through a treatment contract and the expectations of the program.
When a patient first starts MOUD treatments, she will assess their level of withdrawal and will prescribe a medication, usually Suboxone, that will block the effects of opioids and curb cravings. She will also screen for HIV, Hepatitis-C, and other infectious diseases. At the beginning of treatment she will see patients every 1-2 days to perform a drug screen and check how they’re responding to medications.
Once patients start to stabilize, she will schedule them weekly, then bi-weekly, and eventually monthly.
Dr. Karnik thinks the most important part of her care is to understand that a patient may have many factors that contribute to drug use, and believes that most of her patients are trying to get their lives back on track. “Addiction is very powerful. I’m constantly praising patients because for them to overcome something like this is incredible.”