National Women’s Health Week – May 9-15,2010

Palm Springs, Fl (Hollywood Today/RushPRnews) 05/08/10 — –Shawn Southwick, Larry King’s soon-to-be-ex-wife, and Miss USA’s admission to prescription drugs addiction are among the most recent very public debacle making headlines the past few months.  It is also reported that Ambien and Vicodin, two widely prescribed drugs played a role in Tiger Woods’ recent woes. Prescription drug dependence has impacted the lives of individuals of all ages and socio-economic groups.   The Orchid Recovery Center for women only, in South Florida with its gender-specific holistic approach is offering hope and healing to thousands of women nationwide. Its South Florida location is central in shining light (in bringing hope) to the drug debacle taking over the Sunshine State.

According to federal data compiled by the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Broward County, Fla., has become the painkiller capital of the United States, feeding a brazen black market sprawling through the South and New England.  With little or no regulations holding accountable pain management clinics in Florida, drug addicts and drug dealers cross state line to ‘fill up” with impunity. The area is rife with pain clinics that advertise legitimate medical treatment, but in reality are little more than “pill farms” where an individual can arrive with a credit card and leave with a doctor’s prescription for all the meds they wanted.   No state agency regularly monitors many pain clinics where narcotics are dispensed. The state Department of Health regulates health care professionals, not facilities. The Agency for Health Care Administration oversees only the clinics that accept insurance, and many pain clinics take only cash.

The result is what some experts believe is a small portion of the country that may be responsible for almost half of the illicit distribution of prescription painkillers in the United States. In 2006, these clinics handed out 85 percent of all the oxycodone distributed by doctors nationally.

Raymond G. Ferrero III, J.D., executive director of health affairs for Nova Southeastern University’s Health Professions Division said to RushPRnews, “South Florida has become an epicenter of the illegal prescription drug trade that’s feeding America’s demand for prescription adds noted holistic drug rehab expert John Giordano, “I’m seeing double the amount of patients with addictions to prescription drugs than I did ten-years ago.”

Women and Prescription Drug Addiction

One of the hardest hit demographics in Florida and around the country is women, who have been developing prescription drug addictions at an alarming rate as well.   What was once characterized by the Rolling Stones as the “mother’s little helper” has now led many women to forsake their families and their careers in order to obtain more and more of their drug of “choice” – falling deeper and deeper into the cycle of addiction as tolerance and dependence threaten to separate the addicted woman from everything she holds dear.

Gender-Specific Drug Rehab Help for the Painkiller Problem

The Orchid Recovery Center in South Florida plays a vital role in the intense fight against women who abuse prescription medications.   Through a holistic process that also incorporates elements of traditional detox and counseling, The Orchid is able to help women break the cycle of addiction and learn how to change their behavior so that they can remain sober in the months and years following treatment.

What makes the work at The Orchid so groundbreaking is the truly gender-specific nature of the treatment.   The staff and patients at The Orchid are exclusively women – as treatment professionals at the facility have done extensive research and found that women heal and recover more effectively when they are in the company of other women.   What the patients of The Orchid find is a support structure made up of other women – many of whom may also be addicted to prescription painkillers – that greatly enhances the recovery process.

The facility is helping treat women from all over-the-world fight back against the prescription drug addiction that threatens the lives and well-being of women of all ages.  To obtain more information about The Orchid Recovery Center, or schedule an interview with Julie Queler, its CEO, please write Anne Howard, publicist, at request@annehowardpublicist.com.

source: RushPRnews