Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. X X I S E P T E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 1 6 20 T hrough the first six months of this year, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded 189 deaths in Maine due to drug overdose — a 50% increase over the same six-month period in 2015 and on track to reach 378 deaths by the end of 2016. at puts Maine on pace to surpass 2015's record of 272 overdose deaths and 2014's record of 208 deaths. Pharmaceutical painkill- ers, often trafficked from out of state and frequently used in combination with illegal opioid drugs such as heroin, con- tributed to roughly 45% of those deaths. "Fentanyl, heroin and painkillers are exacting a tremendous toll on our state," Attorney General Janet Mills said in a statement announcing the half-year analysis of drug overdoses completed by Dr. Marcella Sorg of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. "ese figures are very distressing … People should know there is no safe amount to sniff or shoot … If it doesn't kill you, it will lead to a lifetime of addiction, illness and hopelessness." For Stephen Merz, the new presi- dent and CEO of Maine Behavioral Healthcare, Mills' comments high- lighting Maine's epidemic of fatal drug overdoses underscore the importance of the mental health and addiction services that MBH provides at 34 locations in Maine. Substance abuse is frequently linked to mental health, with a 2014 report by the Center for Mental Health Services showing that roughly 42% of adults served through Maine state mental health agencies had a "co-occuring men- tal health and substance use disorder." Merz was hired this spring to replace Dennis King, who retired as CEO of MBH in June after a long career serv- ing a variety of roles in Maine's mental health care system. For 21 years Merz worked at Yale New Haven Hospital, the country's fourth-largest hospi- tal with more than 1,500 beds and 13,500 employees and the largest pro- vider of behavioral health services in Connecticut. In his last position as the hospital's vice president and executive director of behavioral health services, his primary focus was finding ways to integrate behavioral health care ser- vices into general health care. "Treating the whole person" is how he puts it. It's a focus well suited to tackling Maine's drug overdose epidemic, which Merz says is as much a public health crisis as it is a law enforcement issue. "It's a sobering thought, when we just get a report yesterday that Maine is on track to have another record year of overdoses," Merz says. "e chief medical examiner is predicting up to another 50% increase next year. People literally are dying because of this." On the front lines In his new role at Maine Behavioral Healthcare, Merz oversees a division of MaineHealth that was formed in 2014 when Spring Harbor Hospital, a 100- bed private psychiatric treatment and recovery center located in Westbrook, merged with Community Counseling Center, Counseling Services Inc. and Mid-Coast Mental Health Center. at merger of three community health centers with an acute-care facil- ity, combined with a continuum of community mental health services that are integrated with general health care services throughout the MaineHealth network, he says, is what puts MBH in the front lines of the state's three- pronged response to the opioid prob- lem, involving law enforcement, educa- tion and treatment. In one initiative, Merz says, MBH will be training local doctors and P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Maine Behavioral Healthcare 78 Atlantic Place, South Portland President and CEO: Stephen Merz Founded: Founded in 2014 by merging a network of behavioral health care organizations: Community Counseling Center, Counseling Services Inc., Mid- Coast Mental Health Center, Spring Harbor Community Services and Spring Harbor Hospital Employees: 1,100 at 34 locations serving 12 Maine counties Services: Outpatient psychiatric and counseling services provided to 19,000 clients in 2015. More than 1,400 adults and 700 children treated at Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, the state's largest free-standing psychiatric hospital. Nearly 34,000 clients served in a continuum of mental health care ranging from outpatient and inpatient to residential or crisis services. Revenues: $78.6 million (2015) Contact: 207-842-7700 www.mainebehavioralhealthcare.org F O C U S B y J a m e s m c c a r t h y New CEO of Maine Behavioral Healthcare joins effort to curb opioid deaths Stephen Merz, the new president and CEO for Maine Behavioral Healthcare, talks with Mindy Knight, director of residential services at Maine Behavioral Healthcare, in the Spring Harbor Hospital lobby about a recent meeting they both attended in Westbrook.

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