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Philadelphia leaders and addiction treatment providers hope that a new clinic on wheels will expand access to medication for opioid use disorder among the city’s most vulnerable residents.
The city’s first mobile methadone van is stationed at an outdoor location in Kensington and operated by Merakey. People can walk up and get a health exam, a consultation for addiction treatment and their first dose of methadone in less than an hour.
The goal is to stabilize people by offering a low-barrier form of treatment while addressing their other needs, including housing, food and wound care, before transitioning them into long-term outpatient counseling and treatment programs.
“Treatment is not a one-size-fits-all,” Josh Vigderman, senior executive director for substance use disorder services at Merakey, said Friday at an unveiling event. “This program allows us to provide more personalized care, respond to the needs of the community and connect people to the services they so desperately need and deserve.”
Methadone is one type of medication for opioid use disorder, and it’s the most tightly regulated because of its status as a Schedule II controlled substance under the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which means it can potentially be abused.
The liquid medication is traditionally offered at licensed narcotic treatment programs at brick-and-mortar clinics, where patients may have to travel daily to get a single dose.
But in 2021, the DEA expanded federal rules to allow treatment providers to dispense methadone from mobile vans at remote locations. The Merakey program in Philadelphia is among the first in Pennsylvania to do so.
Two other mobile treatment programs licensed to dispense methadone serve Allegheny County and a group of six rural counties in Central Pennsylvania, respectively.
“This is an important step forward, not only for Pennsylvania, but for the entire treatment system,” said Latika Davis-Jones, secretary of the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. “By expanding mobile treatment, we are reducing barriers, bringing care closer to people and helping to position Pennsylvania as a leader in this innovative approach to delivery substance use disorder services.”
Merakey’s white recreational vehicle sits in the parking lot of the Kensington Wellness Support Center. It’s a short walk from SEPTA’s Huntingdon station on the Market-Frankford line and several bus stops.
“Most of our patients, a large majority, are walkups,” said Cristina Marino, Merakey’s program director.
The front area of the van has been converted into a miniature doctor’s office, with an exam table and some medical and harm-reduction supplies. This is where a doctor can evaluate someone’s health care needs and set them up with methadone.
A patient can then go to the back of the van to the dispensing room, where a nurse will measure out the liquid methadone and give them their first dose through a partitioned window.
