Easterseals Rehabilitation Center President and CEO Eric Filberto and Marketing Director Betsy Bethel-McFarland appeared before Wheeling City Council this week to outline its plans to bring services to the community for those impacted by the opioid crisis. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING – The city of Wheeling is allocating money from its opioid settlement funds from the state of West Virginia to help Easterseals Rehabilitation Center provide treatment services for those impacted by the crisis.

Council members voted unanimously to provide $50,000 in opioid settlement funds to go toward the new effort.

During this week’s meeting of Wheeling City Council, Eric Filberto, president and CEO of Easterseals Rehabilitation Center, and Betsy Bethel-McFarland, marketing director, appeared before city leaders to explain the organization’s plan for the funding.

Filberto noted that pediatric outpatient medical rehabilitation is among the many services they provide. He said these services include assistance for individuals with autism, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and other behavioral issues, and they provide various therapies, including speech, occupational and physical therapy.

He indicated that in many cases, a number of these disorders can be attributed to residual effects of the opioid epidemic and those impacted by it.

“What we have seen over the last several years is a very, very sharp rise and uptick in the need for autism services, ADHD and behavioral services,” Filberto said, “specifically those which are related to the opioid epidemic.”

They never turn anyone away because of a family’s inability to pay, Filberto noted. They requested opioid funding from the city to help support a new program that aims at addressing this uptick in related disorders.

“We brought on Dr. David Mosman and Amanda Mosman, who is a physician assistant, in conjunction with WVU Medicine, solely to focus on those patients with autism, ADHD and behavior,” Filberto said. “That is for a very easily quantifiable diagnosis like neonatal abstinence syndrome and those that are a bit more nebulous, like societal and familial problems that are brought on by the opioid epidemic.”

Filberto said they looked forward to working with the city to tackle these social issues.

“You can rest assured that those funds will be very judiciously used,” he said. “We’ve made tremendous strides in securing internal funding and approaching other organizations and entities to make sure that this program will be self-sustaining for years and years in the future.”

The funding will help Easterseals with the expansion of its health record system and coordination of such with medical providers assisting in the treatment of infants and children affected by opioids and in providing opioid related abatement, according to the ordinance that was approved on Tuesday night.

“Easterseals obviously is a great program that we’re very proud of, so thank you very much,” Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder said.

Filberto explained that Easterseals is a national organization that is made up of nearly 70 affiliates.

“We’re all totally independent and self-sustaining,” he said, noting that the organization relies on municipal organizations and community philanthropy for funding.

The local Easterseals Rehabilitation Center has been headquartered in Wheeling since 1937.

“Ours is among the smallest, but is among the longest continually operating,” Filberto said. “We’re coming up on our 90th anniversary.”