Drug prevention experts call for “Good Samaritan” law
Article Date:
July 9, 2013
MILWAUKEE (WITI) — If you were alone in a room with a dying man, would you call 911 to save his life? What if calling for help could land you in jail?
Behavioral Healthcare Magazine: Connections and Rosecrance bring TMS therapy to Madison
Article Date:
January 30, 2013
Two providers of behavioral health treatment have partnered to bring cutting-edge technology in the treatment of chronic depression to the Madison area.
Connections Counseling of Madison (Madison, Wis.) and Rosecrance Health Network (Rockford, Ill.), have created the TMS Center of Madison, which will be the area’s only provider of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS is considered among the most significant and effective medical breakthroughs of the decade. Rosecrance has successfully treated patients in Rockford using TMS for more than 3 years.
Shelly Dutch, director of Connections Counseling, said her staff is excited to add TMS therapy to the organization’s treatment options for individuals with Major Depressive Disorder.
“This new treatment could be life-changing for individuals with depression who have struggled in vain to find medications or other treatments that work for them,” Dutch said. “Patients we have encountered who benefited from TMS speak of it in terms of being almost miraculous. Some say they found joy and satisfaction in life for the first time in years.
TMS is a non-invasive, non-systemic medical treatment for individuals suffering from depression who have not benefited from anti-depressants or who cannot take medication for some reason. The therapy can be prescribed for women who are pregnant or nursing or for individuals whose employment prevents them from taking medication. TMS is available by prescription only and therapy is supervised by a doctor. The treatment uses highly focused magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain that control mood.
WSJ – New form of depression therapy comes to Madison
Article Date:
January 6, 2013
A new brain stimulation therapy for depression is coming to Madison this week.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, uses a magnetic coil positioned on the head to activate targeted brain cells.
TMS is meant for patients who haven’t been helped by medication and seek an alternative to electroconvulsive therapy, the decades-old treatment in which a seizure in induced.
Connections Counseling will open the TMS Center of Madison on Monday at its clinic on Madison’s West Side through a joint venture with Rosecrance Health Network of Rockford, Ill.
During TMS, patients sit in what looks like a dental chair while magnetic pulses, like those from an MRI machine, stimulate nerve cells thought to be involved in mood regulation.
NBC 15 – The Face of Heroin
Article Date:
November 16, 2011
REPORTER: Chris Woodard
Twitter: @cwoodardnews
It's dangerous and out of control. The heroin epidemic is exploding in southern Wisconsin and more and more innocent people are being put at risk.
Many people are finding themselves in harms way and those putting them there, those who find themselves sucked into the addictive downward spiral, are far from your stereotypical dirt bag druggie.
23-year-old recovering addict John Howard says, "It just keeps getting younger and younger."
"I always thought I had high morals," says 22-year-old recovering addict Alissa Curtis.
Five heroin overdoses in five days in Madison
MADISON (WKOW) -- Madison police say there have been five heroin overdoses in the past five days.
Two happened Tuesday, one in the 1800 block of Hayes Road, and the second in the Woodman's parking lot on Milwaukee Street.
Police say that case involved a group of friends who took a road trip from Stoughton to Madison to buy heroin.
On Monday, police say heroin overdoses took place on Hamilton Street and likely on South First Street. Yet another occurred Friday on Horned Owl Court.
The City of Madison and Dane County have both allotted tens of thousands of dollars in their 2012 budgets to create an Opiates Task Force.