Unfortunately, Northern Kentucky is plagued with widespread substance abuse and substance use disorders, but for St. Elizabeth nurse Carla Hamilton, helping patients and their families battle addiction is a passion and a fight she intends to pursue – all the way to Washington, D.C. if necessary.
Carla fights for NKY
Carla began her RN career in an alcohol and drug treatment center. Her passion for caring for those affected by the disease developed there; and, while substance abuse programs were certainly not new in health care, Carla was determined to bring the best available care to the center and advocate for resources within the hospital as well as the state and nation.
In 2012 when the current opioid crisis began, Carla pursued additional resources for Northern Kentucky patients. It was Carla who worked with her director to make a call to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and seek a relationship that would help improve the current program.
At the time, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation did not have any such outreach program, but based on a call with Carla and other hospital officials, the foundation committed to developing an outreach program along with a consulting program modeled after their own success. The newly developed program was brought to the Greater Cincinnati region in 2014 and subsequently the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is now consulting all over the country using this program.
Why substance abuse?
Carla recognizes the stigma and challenges that patients experiencing substance abuse problems often face. In addition to the health issues they face, many have experienced job loss, estrangement or abandonment from families and friends, and a draining of financial resources.
Carla’s approach includes treating the whole person, rather than focusing on the disease. She also works with families to develop quality treatment programs and with staff to develop educational programming. The staff at the Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center located in Falmouth use her programming, as well as the entire St. Elizabeth Healthcare system. Her approach – to support and treat the whole person and leave judgment out of the equation – is recognized across the state. She also published research related to withdrawal in the Kentucky Nurse in 2013 for others to use in the treatment of this disease.
What makes Carla’s approach different?
With substance abuse, Carla is always seeking new ways to treat the disease and disseminate the information and knowledge she has learned through the wide variety of professional organizations of which she is a member. These organizations include the American Nurses Association and the Kentucky Nurses Association, among others.
Always devoted and engaged, Carla has been an advocate for the patient and family to get the services they need in our community. She has made herself a well-known expert in the field due to her work with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and her research on CIWA and COWS protocols.
As if her work as a nurse and researcher was not enough to keep her busy, Carla has also devoted much time and energy to public speaking to communicate the correct information about substance abuse as a disease and advocate for those that have substance use disorders.
Happy Nurses Week, Carla!
