cuyahoga county - Ohio Hospital Association

CUYAHOGA COUNTY Total population: 1,263,000

TOTAL HOSPITAL ENCOUNTERS, 2015 EMERGENCY

OUTPATIENT

INPATIENT

TOTAL

622,824

4,361,260

186,556

5,170,640

Ohio Medicaid Expansion— David Bruell’s Recovery Story David Bruell often wore long-sleeved shirts, even on hot summer days. His mother knew that those shirts could conceal the marks of his disease, but not eliminate it. David needed help. Serious help. Or he was going to die. David grew up in Pepper Pike, Ohio, and attended Orange High School. He was senior-class president, but fashioned himself as a partier. It was a way of coping with awkward social settings. As he regularly experimented with a variety of recreational drugs, his issues with addiction and side effects were manageable. In his youthful naivety, he felt he could handle anything. Upon graduation, David started his undergraduate studies at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. He began to experiment with pills like Percocet, Oxycontin, Xanax, Opana and Vicodin. “This was the first time that I found a drug that could knock me down,” he said. David began missing classes. As his addiction grew, and his attitude changed, he became estranged from his family. David swore he would never do heroin, aware of its dangerous side effects, but the pills got too expensive. Shortly after his ex-girlfriend died from an opiate overdose, David was frequently injecting heroin. Soon after, David left school and moved home. In order to maintain his addiction, he began engaging in criminal activity. At this point, his parents convinced him to seek treatment. David’s parents struggled to quickly get him into a local sober living program, so David agreed to enter a drug and alcohol treatment facility overseas. The program was initially effective, as he was able move out of the facility and into sober living. Unfortunately, David did not learn important maintenance skills for his recovery, and he found

Under Ohio’s Medicaid expansion, David could afford the necessary treatment he desperately needed. David has now been sober for almost two years. He is back to good health, and happy to be back to work and enjoying, “the simple life.”

Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital patient David Bruell, and his girlfriend, spend time outside with their dog enjoying David’s health and recovery.

himself homeless, alone and desperate for his next fix. David returned back home to Cleveland, and having exhausted every financial option from himself and his parents, he decided to sign up for Ohio Medicaid. He is currently working as a manager for a storage facility and has a girlfriend and a dog. Without Medicaid expansion, The Lantern Center for Recovery in Cleveland, and the treatment he was able to receive at Cleveland Clinic’s Drug and Alcohol Recovery Center at Lutheran Hospital, he wouldn’t have seen his journey end in recovery. As David now says to others seeking help to treat their addictions, “There is a beautiful side to addiction and that is recovery.” For any questions regarding this case please contact Chad Bronson (216-346-6140) at Cleveland Clinic.

ohiohospitals.org/CommunityBenefit