DeJesus’s 20-mile daily commute illustrates the prior access barrier
Mobile methadone vans did not exist in Connecticut when Frankie DeJesus began his own recovery from opioid use disorder in 2012. He wishes they had been available then.
DeJesus, now a recovery support specialist for Community Health Resources, has spent nearly all his life in Enfield, right by Connecticut’s northern border. After a Percocet prescription for knee pain developed into a dependence on heroin and other opioids, he began traveling to Hartford’s Root Center to receive methadone, which is widely considered the most effective treatment for opioid use disorder.
The Root Center, 20 miles from Enfield, was the closest methadone clinic to DeJesus’s home. Every day for a year and a half, he made the 30-minute drive to receive his dose of methadone before driving back to work. Dosing windows at the clinic were short and often coincided with rush hours. Sometimes, he would take the HOV lane to ensure he arrived at the clinic in time. Other times, reluctant to break the law, he would miss the morning window and have to leave work early to receive his dose before the clinic closed.
The arrival of mobile methadone vans in Connecticut changes that access equation. By bringing medication-assisted treatment directly to communities that lack a nearby methadone clinic, the vans remove the daily commute that once shaped whether a patient could stay in continuous treatment.