‘Take All Their Excuses Away': Hard Cases In Heroin Fight

CHICAGO (AP) — Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago is a battleground in the nation's opioid crisis.

Drug users seeking help there are hard cases. They come with arrest records, broken relationships and mental health problems.

A new hospital-based team is working on behalf of these patients, matching them with addiction treatment in the community and making sure they get there.

Similar hospital-based programs are springing up across the U.S. The programs are funded by federal grants to address the opioid crisis that Congress authorized in last year's 21st Century Cures Act.

Illinois is spending $2.4 million of its Cures Act money for so-called "warm handoff" programs at Saint Anthony and eight other hospitals.

Addiction counselor DeValle Williams says it's "about not giving up" on patients.