Excerpt from the Dayton Business Journal
Wright State University is partnering with Google's sister company to launch a new addiction treatment and recovery program in the Dayton region.
The university will join numerous community organizations to collaborate with Verily Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc., on the non-profit health care ecosystem known as OneFifteen, which gets its name from the number of daily opioid overdose deaths in the United States in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Dayton Business Journal first reported last October on Verily's efforts to develop an addiction treatment program in Dayton, and an official announcement was made Feb. 6.
Wright State faculty and students in the College of Education and Human Services, School of Professional Psychology, and medical students and resident physicians of the Boonshoft School of Medicine will participate in the effort. If the approach is successful, the project could serve as a prototype for similar efforts to combat the opioid crisis in other cities around the U.S.
“Through this partnership, we can leverage our existing presence on the front lines of service for those struggling with addiction,” said Dr. Margaret Dunn, dean of the Boonshoft School of Medicine. “This effort will help us expand our delivery of care while engaging learners at all levels.”
The treatment ecosystem will be based in a high-addiction area of downtown Dayton where its reach can be maximized. Partners in the project will develop a technology-informed recovery system capable of delivering evidence-based treatments for substance use disorders along the entire continuum of care.
The ecosystem will help address patients’ medical and psychosocial needs, and also serve as a hub for outcome data that will inform future care. The use of technology will contribute to fewer access problems and make it simpler to connect people with the resources they need, officials say.
