Eabametoong couple undergo Suboxone treatment

Eabametoong’s Melanie Oskineegish and Richard Quisses have turned their lives around after undergoing the community’s Soboxone prescription drug abuse treatment program.
“I feel good,” Oskineegish said after undergoing the week-long Suboxone program Oct. 7-14. “It’s a big step for me to get off the Oxys (OxyContin).”
Suboxone is a combination medication used together with an overall addiction treatment program including medical, social and psychological support to treat adults dependent on opiates such as oxycodone (OxyContin) or morphine.
Oskineegish first got hooked on OxyContin prescription drugs after “just” trying them.
“I liked it and I kept doing it,” Oskineegish said.
But about one month ago she realized she had to get off the prescription drugs to provide a good life for her family. Her three children had been taken away due to her and her partner Quisses’s prescription drug abuse addictions.
“I’ve been on Suboxone for almost two months,” Quisses said. “The medication we’re on is pretty good. It doesn’t give you withdrawals.”
Since quitting OxyContin, Quisses realizes what he’s missed during his prescription drug addiction.
“I recommend this program,” Quisses said. “I was (among) the first clients going in. The four of us completed the program, but there’s a few that went off the program and went back to the stuff they were on. Myself, I haven’t touched anything.”
Oskineegish and Quisses support each other during their effort to get off prescription drugs and rebuild their lives.
“We communicate ... about how we feel,” Oskineegish said.
Eabametoong started the Suboxone program in mid-August and has completed six seven-day cycles to date.
“They have pretty structured activities right from the get go,” said Liz Atlookan, Eabametoong’s health manager. “They’re pretty busy.”
Atlookan said the Suboxone program includes recovery workbooks, group work, individual reflection time and other activities with resource workers. It is delivered to four people per session in a building on the edge of the community.
“A lot of them have said they were quite comfortable in there,” Atlookan said. “They didn’t think it would be so well organized and structured. They really like that environment.”
The Suboxone program currently has a wait list, with sessions fully booked until after Christmas.
“We have been having a lot of success stories,” Atlookan said. “A lot of them are doing well. There are some that are perhaps probably not quite ready, and they’ve relapsed, but that is a very low percentage.”
Quisses said he was always aching, tired and sleepy before he went on the Suboxone program.
“I was taking a lot of drugs and I finally realized that my house was practically empty,” Quisses said. “We were selling all our stuff just for our drug habit.”
Quisses and Oskineegish are slowly starting to refurbish their home.
“My goal is to be completely off this drug,” Oskineegish said. “I used to want to become an accountant, but I had a stroke in February of last year. It affected my left-hand mobility.”
Quisses’ goal is to get his children back and have a better life with his family.
“They’ve been going through a lot,” Quisses said. “If I never did Oxys or drugs, I would have my kids still.”