Rotary Program: 7/09/03
Program Chairperson: Jeanne Clark
Speaker: Dr. Greg Jones, Medical Director of the De-Tox Unit, PMH

Dr. Greg Jones is one of over 3,000 certified addiction specialists in the U.S. who are members of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He comes to Pikeville from Athens, Ga. to head the medical detoxification unit at Pikeville Methodist Hospital. He and his wife, Tina, who, by the way, is an excellent portrait artist, hope to make their home here for many years to come.

Dr. Jones stated that the mission statement of the Det-tox unit is to provide quality, regional care for addicts and their families in a compassionate atmosphere. He says that his personal philosophy is to deal with the addiction as the primary illness instead of spending his efforts trying to find root-causes or underlying reasons for the dependency. He says alcohol is the number one drug problem in Pike County, but is not esteemed as such because it does not carry with it the stigma of other drugs and is, in some cases, legal to buy and use. He plans to treat all chemical dependencies alike, regardless of whether or not it is socially accepted. Dr. Jones emphasized that the detoxification process is the easy part. Staying sober for an extended period of time and finally getting off the drug for good is a lot harder. In fact, he is not going to give false illusions about the success of the program unless the patient is willing to work at conquering the addiction, perhaps for the rest of his or her life. His approach is two-fold: getting off all mood-altering substances as rapidly as possible and beginning a 12-step program immediately thereafter. Both are critical to the success of the program. Most counties have some program such as AA or Al-Anon already in place to which he plans to refer his clients. The patient is then monitored and counseled as an outpatient for as long as necessary to achieve complete recovery. Dr. Jones says he plans to work closely with all other agencies that deal with the problems of addiction and substance abuse, but will limit the referral process to adults only at this time. He also stated that he believes in the spiritual aspect of treatment and plans to allow the patient to determine what that means to them. Referrals can come from family members, law enforcement agencies, the courts, or even self-referrals. Dr. Jones emphasized, however, that the patient is not forced to stay during any phase of the program and may stop at any point, even if the treatment is mandated by the court. The patient may choose to return to the judge and seek some other method of diversion instead.

Lastly, Dr. Jones stated that the success of the program depended largely on the general moral support of the community to erase the stigma of substance abuse and addiction. It will require some creative funding sources as well, since most insurance companies do not pay for such services. In addition to seeking grants, he plans to have fund-raising events to find the funds needed to keep the program running. One particularly novel approach is to put as much responsibility as possible on the patient to support his or her own treatment. This accomplishes two important ends. One, the patient is held accountable for his or her own behavior and the consequences of it and, two, it is therapeutic to the patient to see that he or she is providing the means for their own recovery. Further inquiries may be made at Dr. Jones’ office at 606-218-4683 or in the unit at 606-218-4680. Submitted by J. Morgan Chapman.