LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Combining medical services and emotional support, the Detox Unit on the third floor of UofL Health's Mary & Elizabeth Hospital is helping patients take the first steps toward recovery.
"We're unique, we offer medical services as well as detox. So we can definitely accommodate patients that have various medical needs," said Jessica Baird. "If they require a higher level of care or more in-depth medical care, we can provide that here in a hospital setting."
Baird works with the hospital off Bluegrass Avenue as the director of nursing for Behavioral Health. The unit has 25 beds and has been in operation for about three years. Over that time, Baird said it has seen an increase in patients.
Jessica Baird, Director of Nursing at UofL Health Mary and Elizabeth Hospital. (WDRB Image)
"This zip code is the highest overdose rate in Jefferson County," she said. "There is a lot of need for those patients to get those services in a hospital setting."
Baird said the unit sees patients struggling with a wide variety of substance abuse issues from drugs and alcohol, but the highest concentration is with fentanyl and other opioid overdoses.
The program is voluntary, so individuals who want help can walk into the hospital's emergency department and be directed to the unit upstairs for treatment.
"We can definitely accommodate patients that have various medical needs. If they require a higher level of care or more in-depth medical care, we can provide that here in a hospital setting," said Baird. "I think because there can be a stigma surrounding behavioral health, coming to a hospital setting, a medical hospital definitely drives that interest in our unit."
Along with offering medical support, the unit connects patients with social services, therapeutic programs and long-term recovery resources.
'Thank You' cards line walls inside UofL Health Mary and Elizabeth Detox Unit. (WDRB Image)
"I've had several patients send cards and thank you notes and they're still living a sober lifestyle," Baird said.
Staff have backgrounds in behavioral health and some, like Lanita, have personal connections to the struggles patients are going through.
At just 14, Lanita began drinking alcohol. By the time she was in her 20s, she had experimented with and became addicted to drugs.
"I crossed that invisible line that I didn't know I crossed where if I wanted it, now I needed it," she said. "It was the devil putting that stuff in front of me. It was so easy to get."
Lanita said after trying a few different rehab programs over the years, she eventually stuck with it. This August, she celebrated 23 years of sobriety.
"One morning I just woke up and I was like, 'I can't keep doing this.' I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn't see myself. I had a little bitty afro and my skin was real pale and dry," she said.
Her recovery allowed her to reconnect with her children. She now spends most of her time away from the hospital caring for her 10 grandkids.
Group room offers space for various programs to meet inside the UofL Health Mary And Elizabeth Hospital Detox Unit. (WDRB Image)
Thinking about how far she's come, Lanita teared up and said, "This is joy."
Working as a patient care assistant, she now shares her story with others going through treatment in the Detox Unit.
"If I see a light on in somebody, and someone who is just sick and tired of being sick and tired and who wants to do something different, I'll tell them my story and let them know, you can do something different," she explained.
Lanita said she often tells patients to take things "one day at a time" and hopes her story of recovery can be a source of hope.
"If someone had asked me back then what would I be doing now, I would've short-changed myself. ... It feels good. My kids respect me, they look up to me," she said. "That's what I tell people when I'm up on the unit, 'Wherever you go, just don't leave. Stay until the miracle happens.' I used to say, 'Well what's the miracle?' Finally I found out, the miracle was me."
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