FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEB. 12, 2018

FOR INFORMATION: Randall Carlisle, Odyssey House, (801)541-5413

ODYSSEY HOUSE TESTING NEW DEVICE THAT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. IS IT?

Salt Lake City, UT- Odyssey House is the first treatment center in Utah to test the BRIDGE. It’s a device that fits behind the ear and sends electrical feedback to the brain, blocking the sometimes-horrible symptoms of detoxing from opiates.

“I feel a lot better. It’s amazing,” says Randy Burton who’s used heroin on and off for ten years and has endured extreme sickness the many times he’s tried to withdraw. “I didn’t know how it was going to work, but it was the easiest detox I’ve ever been through.”

He’s the first person in Utah to use the device. Randy, who was on the streets, detoxed in minutes with the BRIDGE and went immediately into the Adult Residential program at Odyssey where he is doing well in his recovery.

Odyssey Outreach Specialist Rachel Santizo witnessed the first test of the BRIDGE on Randy from beginning to end. “Watching someone come from a physically hopeless space back to life with a simple device is completely mind blowing.  It took most of the withdrawal symptoms away within minutes. It is a safer alternative to detoxing. This is exactly what we need.”

Odyssey House is testing 10 of the devices. Below is a video clip of 30-year-old Kyler Drew getting one of the devices at Odyssey. He says he’s used heroin on and off since he was 15 and claims he has detoxed dozens of times but none like this. He was in heroin withdrawal when he came in. Odyssey House edited before, during and after with his reaction. The easing of symptoms happens within 10 minutes and results are measured in 10-minute intervals.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W-9z3aSAYSODXZatzdFsrIcR7jnCA4ka/view?usp=sharing

“Odyssey House Utah has always pursued cutting-edge technologies and pharmaceuticals to treat our clients,” says Odyssey CEO Adam Cohen. “So, naturally we want to see first-hand how the BRIDGE works. We have tested it on several people withdrawing from opiates and, so far, it performs exactly as the company says it will.”

Cohen continues, “Mitigating the pain from opioid withdrawal could persuade more people to seek treatment once the anticipatory fear of that sickness is gone. If the outcomes we’ve seen so far continue in our testing phase, the BRIDGE could play a significant role in the continuing struggle to end the opioid epidemic.”

The BRIDGE has been approved by the FDA and is manufactured by Indiana based Innovative Health Solutions. A person hitting peak withdrawal wears it for five days, long enough to make it through withdrawal, then turns to long term help to stay sober with counseling and medication assisted treatment like Vivitrol.

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