In 2021, the Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery Clinic or RIvER Clinic began offering immediate, effective, and compassionate primary healthcare to people as soon as they leave the carceral system for substance use disorders, hepatitis C, diabetes, high blood pressure, women’s health needs, mental health issues, and more.
The care also includes helping patients find and use support services as they reunite with their families and communities. The program is supported by grants from local and state sources.
Since it opened, RIvER Clinic has helped hundreds of people regardless of their ability to pay.
A community health worker and a social worker go into Allegheny County Jail to meet people ahead of time. Upon release, a patient may meet with the clinic’s medical staff, which includes two internal medicine doctors and a nurse navigator, to evaluate health needs and provide care, including telemedicine. A psychiatrist is available to support psychiatric needs, and a social worker is present to aid with transportation, housing, food security, and more. Additionally, a Patient Care Navigator and a Peer Recovery Specialist support patients in their transition back to the community.
RIvER Clinic’s goal is to make formerly incarcerated people’s re-entry to normal life healthier by lowering their risk of relapse in substance use and drug overdose — and reducing their chances of returning to the carceral system.
RIvER Clinic is one of the many programs Allegheny Health Network offers via its Center for Inclusion Health
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