It takes more than a monthly dose of a maintenance therapy drug and a positive attitude to treat addiction, especially when a substance use disorder masks undiagnosed health issues. Experienced health professionals can make all the difference for addicts entering recovery, and Lynn Brown and Joan Ziegelmeyer know that nurse-patient relationships are critical to patient care. That’s what makes their roles at the Brighton Recovery Center clinic so important.

Brown, a parish nurse, and Ziegelmeyer, a nurse practitioner, dedicate much of their time to the residence-based addiction-recovery program for women in Florence, Kentucky. The clinic, which opened in July 2014, is one of several locations operated by Northern Kentucky University’s Nurse Advocacy Center for the Underserved (NACU) program, which places experienced nurses in the region’s underserved communities. 

“The Brighton Center is our busiest and one of our most important places that we serve,” says Mary Kishman, NACU’s director. “The goal is to get the women clean, so the nurses have to keep them healthy for them to be able to focus and make this happen. The nurses deliver primary care while they’re in the program, but the women often do not really know how to navigate the health care system, so health education and guidance is really what many of them need.”

While NACU is a clinic, the Brighton Recovery Center is not a medical facility. There are no electronic medical records or care plans like in traditional facilities. Brown and Ziegelmeyer treat everything from the common cold to the flu to hepatitis, and they refer patients externally for counseling to treat depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. Sometimes bigger issues surface, too.

“There are many medical conditions that have to be managed,” Brown says. “Once the opioid wears off, they’re hypersensitiveto everything. They start to feel pain, but they don’t take care of their medical conditions. They don’t know what’s serious or what they should pay attention to. They don’t know what’s common to the human condition anymore.”

In addition to typical nurse duties, Brown and Ziegelmeyer serve as advocates for women who come through the program. 

“These women come in completely broken. They’re not even a personality anymore. They’re just an addiction wearingscrubs,” Brown says. “They don’t know how to maneuver, and they feel alone. We say, ‘Let’s talk through it. How will you be more comfortable? How do you settle in?’ Over time, we see their personalities come out. We watch them progress and grow. It’s beautiful to watch that happen.”

Graduation typically comes nine months after a patient enters recovery. For some, it takes longer if they run into trouble and need to restart, or if they leave and come back later. Some don’t the finish the program at all—they leave and relapse, a scenario that too often results in death.

“The hardest part is when you hear later that they’ve overdosed,” Ziegelmeyer says. “Those drugs are so strong, and they pull you back.”

This could have been the case for Davita Riggs, a trained phlebotomist who slipped into addiction and twice sought help at Brighton. When Riggs was admitted in 2013 for the first time, there was no nurse or clinic on site. She had to find and arrange transportation for herself whenever she needed to leave the treatment facility—which was often—to treat her thyroid condition and other illnesses. Leaving the facility put her behind in life skills classes, which extended her time there. 

But during her second admission to the program, Riggs was introduced to NACU. She remembers being high and mean during her intake session, but Brown and Ziegelmeyer were patient with her. This compassion, she says, made all the difference.

“When outside doctors would see that I was an addict, they would treat me differ-ently,” she says. “You don’t get treated the best when people find out who you are and what you’ve done. It was nice to have two people who were professional, educated and treated me like a human being.”

Now, after successfully moving through the program, Riggs works as Brighton’s in-house phlebotomist. She was hired to the position by an outside company after her graduation and now works alongside the two NACU nurses who helped her when she needed it most. Riggs is just one example of the women whom Brown and Ziegelmeyer get to work with every day.

“It’s crazy how it came full circle and now I work with them. I’ve never loved a job like I love this one,” Riggs says. “If I didn’t have my job here, I wouldn’t be sober. I remember laying in those beds. I remember girls cleaning up my vomit because I was detoxing so hard. I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

NACU’s clinic at the Brighton Recovery Center doesn’t just benefit the women who are recovering—it has a profound effect on the nurses as well.

“We get attached to them,” Ziegelmeyer says. “Sometimes it helps to have someone on the outside to process everything with. We know the program and can encourage them to do the right thing.”

“It’s easy to love this job,” Brown says, “because you love the girls.”