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COVER STORY
Terry Horton, M.D., and Stephen B. Mockbee.
In 2015, Project Engage formed a partnership with the construction industry to offer recovery support to employees from participating construction companies. The construction industry is second only to the hospitality industry for the proportion of workers who have an opioid addiction.
“It’s important for those with addiction to be able to acknowledge it,” said Stephen M. Mockbee, founder, chairman and former president of Bancroft Construction Company and a Christiana Care Health System trustee. He explains that
a company is better off supporting those employees in their recovery rather than penalizing them. Of course, it’s unsafe for anyone under the influence to work a construction job. “But we give them hope to come back to their job if they’re clean,” Mockbee said.
“This is the right thing for employers to do, and it is the best option for the company, for the employees and for their families.”
Christiana Care is also working to partner with leaders in the Delaware hospitality industry on addiction recovery support for employees. | CONTINUED
“It’s important for those with addiction to be able to acknowledge it.
But we give them hope to come back to their job if they’re clean.”
Stephen B. Mockbee
Tackling tobacco addiction
Project Engage’s innovative approach is proving remarkably successful in addressing many kinds of addiction — including tobacco. Through a program called Project Connect, Christiana Care is helping hospital patients to make the decision to quit smoking at a teachable moment — and connecting them with the resources to help.
Through the program, a tobacco treatment specialist meets with hospital patients for 20-minute interviews to discuss habits, motivation, home environment and past attempts to quit. Follow up may include post-discharge phone calls and, for those who are ready to quit, referrals to the Delaware Quitline or a face-to-face tobacco cessation coach at
Christiana Care. Both services provide free tobacco- cessation medication.
A less intensive model of the project, which was piloted by volunteers, was recently honored with a 2017 Governor’s Outstanding Volunteer Service Award.
“Making the decision to quit is one of the best things you can do for yourself,” said Denise Taylor, MS, RD, Project Connect program manager. She reassures her patients, “It may be difficult when you get home and experience stressors and triggers to use tobacco, but we’re here to help you.”
Tobacco use is still
the nation’s No. 1 cause
of preventable death, disease
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and disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control.