In honor of Nurse’s Appreciation Week, we want to recognize the incredible nurses who are making a difference every day at AllHealth Network. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Narcan are critical tools in addressing the opioid crisis and saving lives in our community, and this work would not be possible without their dedication.
Through a compassionate, harm-reduction approach, our MAT program supports individuals on their path to recovery while also equipping staff and community partners with the knowledge to prevent overdose deaths. We spoke with Nicky Kulish, RN, and Brooke Falvey, RN, MAT Nurse Case Managers at AllHealth Network, about their roles, what inspires them, and the impact they see every day.
Explain your role as nurses at AllHealth Network:
We are Nurse Case Managers for the Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program at AllHealth Network. We support clients with opioid use disorder in safely discontinuing opioid use and maintaining sobriety with the help of medication.
One of the biggest barriers to entering treatment is the risk of overdose and death. To help address this, we recognized the need to train others to identify an overdose and administer Narcan to reverse the effects of fentanyl poisoning, especially as overdose deaths continued to rise. In 2022, we developed a training program that we are proud to offer to AllHealth Network staff and community partners.
Through grant funding, we are also able to provide free Narcan at our trainings and to anyone who may need it, including clients, staff, and community partners. We know the work we do at AHN gives people struggling with addiction another chance at life.
What inspired you to get involved in this work?
Nicky:
Since I was young, I’ve wanted to work in community health. Before nursing school, in the early 1990s, I spent a summer working in a community health clinic. One of my responsibilities was creating educational materials for people who injected drugs, teaching them how to clean needles if they had to reuse them. This experience introduced me to harm reduction and showed me how important community education and access to resources are for individuals struggling with addiction.
Being part of someone’s sobriety journey is an honor. Educating others on how to save lives so individuals have the opportunity to enter treatment is my favorite part of this work.
Brooke:
I have had the privilege of working as a Behavioral Health Nurse since the start of my career in 2008. I’ve always been inspired by clients struggling with addiction. They are some of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. Choosing recovery is not easy, and it is an honor to walk alongside them without judgment or stigma.
I feel fortunate to work in a program with like-minded, compassionate clinicians who focus on meeting clients where they are and approaching addiction through a harm reduction lens. We have seen clients completely transform their lives because they were given a second chance.
What do MAT services and Narcan trainings provide to our community?
For individuals with opioid use disorder, MAT can be an effective path toward sobriety. Unlike many other programs in the area, we use a harm-reduction, low-barrier approach to treatment. The expertise, compassion, and wraparound care we provide not only help individuals stop using substances but also connect them to mental health services, therapy, group support, and IOP.
What’s something you wish more people understood about substance use or overdose prevention?
Addiction is a mental illness that requires treatment. Not everyone needs medication-assisted treatment, but many do benefit from it. It is also important to understand that many individuals who develop opioid addiction initially received prescription medications from a doctor.
Additionally, the majority of people we treat have either received Narcan themselves or have administered it to someone else. This highlights how widespread and critical overdose prevention efforts are.
Can you share a moment or story that shows the impact of this work?
We worked with a client who came to us three years ago after being released from prison and experiencing an overdose. His mother saved his life by administering Narcan.
He shared that while he was not ready to completely stop using all substances, he did want help staying off opioids, specifically fentanyl and heroin. He started buprenorphine treatment and has now been opioid-free for three years. Over time, he chose to stop using other illicit substances as well. Today, he is applying the same entrepreneurial skills he once used in substance sales to run his own antique business.
Thank you to Nicky and Brooke for sharing their experiences and the meaningful work they do every day. In honor of Nurse’s Appreciation Week, we also extend our gratitude to nurses everywhere for their dedication, compassion, and the life-saving care they provide to individuals and communities. If you suspect someone is overdosing, call 911 immediately. If Narcan is available, administer it as directed.
