the throes of a major relapse. At present, he is being detoxified at the Dual Diagnosis Unit, Unit 3, of Princeton House Behavioral Health in Princeton. He is there after a worrisome night at the Emergency Room at Princeton Hospital, where he was brought by ambulance last Wednesday night... with a blood alcohol content of 3.24 [0.324%], nearly five times the legal limit and just a few 100ths of a point away from a lethal level of intoxication.He arrived last Thursday morning. His social worker is Miss Hilary D'Angelo, assigned to him the next day. As are all the detoxifying patients in Unit 3, he is under the medical care of Nurse Pracitioner Ric Pagsane, RN. [Note: Nurse Practitioners are nurses trained to a higher level for most responsibilities. They enjoy the privilege of prescribing medications, among others. --Ed.] My wife and I met both on Monday in a family visit to Adam.
Unit 3 at Princeton House is designated as an acute care facility within the definitions of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, or ASAM. As such, it can treat its patients until such time as their medical conditions warrant a transfer to a lower level facility. Such determinations are made in reference to ASAM's Patient Placement Criteria (ASAM PPC-2R), the most widely used and comprehensive national guidelines for placement, continued stay and discharge of patients with alcohol and other drug problems.
ASAM PPC-2R specifies four levels of care:
I. Outpatient Treatment
II. Intensive Outpatient and Partial Hospitalization
III. Residential/Inpatient Treatment
IV. Medically-Managed Intensive Inpatient Treatment
[to be continued...]
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