By Corey Hirth

In the past two years, Connecticut has seen over 400 women lose their lives to drug overdose. In 2015, 1.2 million women nationwide started taking opioids, which averages to 3,300 women per day.

With the state and country seeing a rise in opioid addiction, specifically with women, the Connecticut Health I-Team hosted a free community forum, “Working Women: The New Face of Addiction,” April 6 at the New Britain Museum of American Art on Thursday. Behavioral Health Network president Patricia Rehmer spoke on a panel with three other women on the opioid crisis and how it directly affects women.

“Addiction is a race-less, class-less, age-less epidemic. It affects everyone,” said Rehmer. “It’s an issue we need to continue to work on. Everyone talks about it, but we need to ask ourselves how are we educating and reaching out to people?”

She added that if children can stay away from substances, including nicotine, before 18 years old, they have a 90 percent chance of not developing addiction habits or patterns.

Joining Rehmer on the panel was Judith Stonger, vice president of prevention, wellness and recover at Wheeler Clinic; Jessica Smith, senior director of adult outpatient services at Wheeler Clinic; and Annette Diaz, a woman in long-term recovery and a Certified Recovery Support Specialist, Peer Coordinator at Community Health Resources (CHR).

Rehmer said it is important to educate nurses and hospital staff to not discriminate against patients who come to the hospital while battling with addiction. Smith said women are fearful that they’ll lose their children if they seek help and that it’s a very real and difficult issue that women face.

“We educate our nurses to not discriminate when patients come to us,” said Rehmer. “Don’t call (Connecticut Department of Children and Families) on the patients right away — work with them, talk with them. We have seen great results with this approach. Family can actually be one of the biggest influences to help someone overcome their addiction.”

The panelists agreed that, next to family, healthy relationships, jobs and school can be the best resources and assistance to someone who is recovering from addiction. Rehmer added that ambulatory detox has come a long way since it first was introduced and for people that have a safe place at home and supportive friends and family, it is a very effective method of recovery.

The forum was moderated by New Haven Register senior web producer and metrics specialist Angi Carter. Rehmer said it was the largest forum audience she has seen for one of these events.