Community and Public Health Programs
Vincent P. Dole Treatment and Research Institute
The Adolescent Development Program and the Adult Services Clinic were established in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Drs. Robert B. Millman, Elizabeth Khuri, Marie Nyswander, and Vincent P. Dole. The two programs were consolidated in November 2008 and renamed the Vincent P. Dole Treatment and Research Institute. The Institute is licensed by the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services and by the New York State Department of Health under article 28.
Our program provides comprehensive medical, psychiatric, and substance abuse treatment services for underserved individuals in our community ages 16 through adult. Over the past years, we have devised novel strategies to treat members of our community suffering from opioid addiction, as well as psychiatric and medical illnesses. We have expanded our multidisciplinary services, developed collaborative clinical relationships in the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and revised our training mission to serve the needs of the academic medical center.
High quality counseling is combined with medical and psychiatric care in a family-like setting crucial to the rehabilitation process, which is viewed as long-term treatment of a chronic disease. Cognizant of the many regulatory controls that methadone treatment imposes on our patients' life, we strive to provide a humanistic environment in which the dignity of the patient becomes central to our delivery of services.
From its inception the program has been a source of hope and a treatment choice for those opiate addicted individuals who could not control their addiction through drug-free treatment. Our patients come from all walks of life: some are students; many are gainfully employed; others are engaged in vocational or academic efforts; some are homemakers; and others are suffering from chronic debilitating illnesses.
Services
Every effort will be made to schedule an initial consultation within twenty-four hours of the referral date. The initial consultation will include a screening for appropriateness and a urine toxicology. If appropriate, the client will return for a psychosocial evaluation to determine the appropriate course of action, which may include admission into the program, referral to a detoxification unit, or other appropriate action. Clients who are admitted into the program will participate in their individualized treatment plan developed by the Institute's interdisciplinary team of experts.
Our treatment services are comprehensive and individualized, consisting of:
- Administration of appropriate dosages of methadone
- Screening and treatment of hepatitis C
- Comprehensive preventive care, including
- Smoking cessation
- Bone densitometry
- Vaccinations
- Cancer screening
- Pulmonary function tests
- Comprehensive primary medical care, including annual physical examinations
- Women's health care, including
- Routine gynecologic care by a nurse practitioner on site
- Breast and cervical cancer screening
- Bone densitometry
- Group therapy/education including parenting, coping skills
- Clinical and educational management of chronic illness (eg., hypertension, diabetes, emphysema, obesity, pain disorders)
- Psychiatric care, including
- Psychiatric evaluation for all admissions
- Psychiatric care for patients with acute or chronic psychiatric disorders
- Urgent psychiatric care for acute problems
- Referral to specialized practitioners
- Vocational/educational services
- HIV counseling, testing and treatment
- Health and nutrition education
- Relapse prevention
- Concrete services, such as assistance with obtaining Medicaid, housing and public social service entitlements
- Hospital Ambassadors Program
- Staff is trained to assist our patients in negotiating necessary outpatient or inpatient treatment in other areas of NYPH. For example, patients can “tour” with a staff member before attending other clinics to familiarize themselves with the location people.
- We assess a patient’s need for ombusmanship in dealing with other areas of the hospital where they might perceive rejection due to their substance abuse disorder or need for methadone.
- Supervised urine toxicology surveillance
- Family planning
Brochures on the Clinic's services are available upon request.
Special Programs
- Annual Health Fair on site for patients
- Staff members each have a “booth” that addresses relevant topics. Both information and referrals are available.
- Patients can ask questions, obtain reading material and engage in a comfortable setting.
- Art Programs
- Annual Art Show
Patients and staff submit artwork to committee for acceptance to widely attended annual art show.
Click here to see some images from 2007 Art Show - Art Group
Participating patients make art in sessions during clinic hours. Additionally, participants have the opportunity to attend art and cultural events in NYC as a group. Ballet, museum visits, and Broadway theater events have been part of the curriculum.
- Annual Art Show
Research and Affiliations
The Vincent P. Dole Treatment and Research Institute maintains a close liaison with the NY Presbyterian Hospital HIV Center for Special Studies and with the Center for the Study of Hepatits C for state-of-the-art treatments as well as clinical research protocols. Basic research efforts in collaboration with the Department of Medicine are under way. The VPD is one of the few New York State Methadone Maintanance Treatment Program (MMTP) network clinics affiliated with basic research, as well as clinical investigation, continuing to document medical aspects of methadone treatment, especially neuroendocrine, immune, and hepatic function, drug-drug interactions, alcoholism, cocaine, polydrug abuse and psychiatric problems in MMTP. Research is under way with regard to basic science and clinical aspects of hepatitis C.
Staff Composition
We have a multi-ethnic and multicultural, bilingual staff composed of internists, psychiatrists, social workers, nurses and counselors. Our staff is gender-sensitive and respectful of patients' sexual orientation or preferences.
Academic Mission
The clinic provides hands-on education on addiction medicine for the medical students and residents, physicians' assistant students, and social work interns. In addition, the clinic serves as a research setting for scholars seeking to improve the field's knowledge about the etiology and impact of substance abuse on individuals and communities. More on training programs
Treatment Expansion
On September 2001 the clinic expanded its services in response to the need for moving on to a higher level of care those patients who are psychosocially rehabilitated. A physician/pharmacy-based unit was created, under the sponsorship of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, U. S. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Department of Public Health of the Cornell Medical College. Patients who are fully rehabilitated and meet a specific treatment criterion are transferred to the new unit where they see a physician once a month and pick up their medication at a community pharmacy.
Administrative Staff
Ann B. Beeder, MD.................................Medical Director
Kim Alexander, LCSW, CASAC....Administrative Director
Kathy Bell, RN......................................Senior Staff Nurse
Clinic Hours
Monday to Friday - 7:00 am to 3:00 pm
Saturday - 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Payment for Services
We accept Medicaid and self-pay. Individual medical insurance can be processed for reimbursement of self-paid fees to the patient.
Address
The Vincent P. Dole Treatment and Research Institute
503 East 70st Street, HT 1, Main Floor
New York, NY 10021
For Admission and Referral Information
Mr. Kim Alexander, LCSW, CASAC
E-mail: kia2001@med.cornell.edu
Telephone: (212) 746-1252
Fax: (212) 746-7951
