MARC Ensures Health and Safety of Staff and Patients

May 8, 2020

Maryland Addiction Recovery Center is a long-term extended care facility in Towson, Maryland treating patients suffering from addiction, substance use disorder, and co-occurring disorders. In an attempt to get ahead of some of the foreseen issues related to COVID-19, MARC leadership and staff took a number of steps to ensure the health and safety of staff and patients, while continuing to adhere to its ongoing standards of quality care so that treatment services wouldn’t suffer. As an initial step, all intensive outpatient (IOP) programming was moved immediately to a virtual platform. While there were some concerns regarding this move, MARC has retained a 95% patient engagement in all IOP programs. Additionally, patients in the extended care began a community quarantine, only leaving the community living campus to attend in-person programming at the clinical campus. Partnerships with local grocery stores have ensured that patients, who normally obtain life skill development through budgeting, shopping, and cooking for themselves, continue to get the necessary items they need. Having to stop all outside meetings or passes, additional components have been added, including healthy cooking classes and home repair classes, outside the ongoing clinical programming. Our Family Recovery Program weekend intensive family program has also gone virtual, adding additional ongoing individual and group sessions for family members, who have found it to be extremely helpful and supportive while their loved one is in treatment. All necessary health and safety protocols put forth by the CDC have been implemented, to support MARC’s patients and staff stay healthy and safe, admissions can continue, and MARC is able to still offer necessary comprehensive services to those individuals and families in need.