MILWAUKEE — A new approach to treating substance use disorder is being tested in just three areas of the state, and Milwaukee is one of them.
Governor Evers toured all three on Tuesday with stops in Milwaukee, Minocqua and on the Oneida Reservation. The hope is to address some of the biggest challenges facing programs designed to treat substance use disorder in rural, tribal and urban areas of the state.
Integrating services is one hurdle and this new approach, called the hub and spoke model, is named after the general look of a bicycle wheel. The hub, in this case, is Milwaukee's Wisconsin Community Services, which will provide specialized treatment. The spokes are the community partners that come alongside to provide extra support to the person in recovery.
"The good news is that it's happening and they're seeing success. I think that's really important to put it into the context of this pandemic, which has made life more complex for everybody." said Governor Evers after touring WCS in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin's pilot program is in the early stages and is designed to run two and a half years. It's similar to Vermont's, which helped that state increase treatment capacity for opioid abuse to the highest level in the United States.
