Hello everyone. Welcome to the Harmony Foundation podcast series. I’m Gina Thorne and I’m pleased today to be joined with Soroosh Ehteshami. He’s the Chief Operating Officer for Magnolia Medical Center or Magnolia Medical Group in Denver, Colorado. And we’ve had the pleasure of having you on campus today to visit Harmony and we’re so grateful for that. Thank you.
Thank you, Gina. It’s been a pleasure to be here, and meet your staff, and walk around your wonderful facility and grounds here.
Well, we’re really happy to have you here to learn more about Magnolia Medical and the work that you all do down in Denver. What I learned online is that you’re an outpatient addiction treatment program in Denver with a focus on Suboxone opioid treatment, which of course, as we both know is a huge need in this country, but more specifically in our own communities. Can you describe for us a little bit about what a client would experience if they were to come to your practice?
Sure. When someone chooses our practice, they can expect culturally sensitive care by non-judgmental providers and staff practicing the harm reduction model of care. We offer medical, psychiatric and behavioral health evaluations, treatment and counseling by board certified physicians, advanced practice practitioners, Masters level licensed addiction counselors and LCSWs with many years of experience providing substance abuse treatment.
Very nice. And how long has Magnolia been around?
This is going … We are going into our fourth year.
Fourth year. And so, your folks that are coming to you are looking … Are they obviously primary opioid addicted clients or do they kind of run the gamut? Are you doing other things like Vivitrol? What other types of medications are you offering?
Sure, and I apologize, we’re going into our fifth year. And we are … Primarily, we focus on treating opioid addiction, but we treat all types of addiction. So, alcohol, cocaine and other substances. We do primarily use buprenorphine and various forms of it, like Sublocade, the injectable form. We also use Vivitrol. And those are the primary medication modalities of treatment, but we do also offer other treatments as well, and of course, we couple that with addiction counseling.
Which is so important, of course.
And I should also mention we also have psychiatry as well.
Which is great. That’s wonderful to have that mental health component. So, Colorado’s no exception to the opiod crisis where your practice has served as a response to the overdose rates obviously, and really trying to be responsive to this epidemic that’s happening. What other ways do you see the Magnolia Medical being a resource in combating this epidemic?
I think other than non-judgmental care by experienced clinicians, I think what sets us apart is that new and returning patients can experience easy access to us. We have appointments available same day within … Definitely within one or two days, they can be seen. We’re open six days a week including Sundays, evenings. In Quarter 2 of this year, we go live on providing tele-medicine and tele-psychiatry, and we also … So, we can go to the patient if they’re not in the clinic or have even more providers in the hours that the patient may need to come in. We have a new flagship building on Colfax in Denver, and it’s two stories dedicated to outpatient addiction care, and we’re looking to add primary care services as well, specifically for patients with addiction or substance abuse.
It’s wonderful that you’ve got that expansion happening. And the other thing I learned recently is that you all take Medicaid. Which is huge because a lot of people who need this service, who can’t afford it, oftentimes are looking for places that they can go. So, that’s wonderful that you offer that as a resource.
Absolutely. We accept Medicaid, Medicare, and the access is the same for all patients. Very easy access and appointments available for all types of payers, Medicare, Medicaid, we also accept the private payers, and also very affordable cash pay. We also accept TriWest with the VA patients. Cigna, United, Aetna, Rocky Mountain Prime and other private payers as well.
Because access is everything, right? So, getting that access for people is really important. So, we always like to get to know the people behind the program, so I’m going to ask you a couple of personal questions if you’re okay with that. So, one of my favorite questions that I like to ask our guests is, if you could have a giant billboard and let’s say today in downtown Denver, what would you like it to say and why?
Well, that’s a good question. I think I would say Magnolia Medical Group is non-judgmental treatment for substance use disorder. Our founder and medical director, Dr. Rog [Rhy 00:05:34] named us Magnolia as it’s a beautiful … I don’t know if you’ve seen the flowers of the tree.
It’s a beautiful tree, tall, well-rooted, and just very beautiful flowers, and it’s kind of a reminder of we’re a place for patients that want to recover to get grounded and to receive good care.
I like that. And I love the origin of the name, which is really special. My family’s origin is from the South, so we’re very familiar with Magnolias, so. And they smell lovely too, which is even nicer.
That’s right. That’s right. And he’s from Mississippi and that’s where they were- Yeah, that’s where he’s-from and that’s where there are plenty of, as you know, magnolia trees.
There are definitely plenty of Magnolia trees down there. If I were to offer up the word harmony, what do you think it means to live a life in harmony?
I love that word and how that name is within your name. And I know Harmony Foundation has been around for many decades. To me, harmony means to be in concert with all that is good, to be at peace.
I love that. All that is good. I haven’t heard that before. That’s a really nice definition. Thank you for sharing that. And if someone wanted to access services at Magnolia Medical, how could they get in touch with you?
We’re accessible 24 hours a day. Our staff are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and we have answering service after that. We are located at 1850 Race Street in Denver near St. Luke’s Presbyterian and St. Joseph’s Hospitals. Our telephone is area code 303-209-5115. Once again, that’s 303-209-5115, and our email is just office@magnoliamat.com. And you can also find us on Facebook or on Google under addiction or under Suboxone clinic in Denver.
Wonderful. Well, Soroosh, it was wonderful to meet you. Thank you for taking the time to visit with us. We look forward to our partnership with you and we invite those listening today to check you guys out.