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Seven years ago, Robert Kerley, who makes his living as a truck driver, was loading drywall when a gust of wind knocked him off the trailer. Kerley fell 14 feet and hurt his back.

For pain, a series of doctors prescribed him a variety of opioids: Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin.

In less than a year, the 45-year-old from Federal Heights, Colo., said he was hooked. 鈥淚 spent most of my time high, laying on the couch, not doing nothing, falling asleep everywhere,鈥� he said.

Kerley lost weight. He lost his job. His relationships with his wife and kids suffered. He remembers when he hit rock bottom: One night hanging out in a friend鈥檚 basement, he drank three beers, and the alcohol reacted with an opioid.

鈥淚 was taking so much morphine that I [experienced] respiratory arrest,鈥� Kerley said. 鈥淚 stopped breathing.鈥�

An ambulance arrived, and EMTs administered the overdose reversal drug聽. Kerley was later hospitalized. As the father of a 12-year-old boy, he knew he needed to turn things around. That鈥檚 when he signed up for聽鈥榮 integrated pain service. (Kaiser Health News is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)

鈥淎fter seven years of being on narcotics and in a spiral downhill, the only thing that pulled me out of it was going to this class,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he only thing that pulled me out of it was doing and working the program that they ask you to work.鈥�

The program he refers to is an eight-week course, available to Kaiser Permanente members in Colorado for $100. It鈥檚 designed to educate high-risk opioid patients about pain management. A recent class met at Kaiser鈥檚聽聽medical offices in Lafayette, Colo., a town east of Boulder. Will Gersch, a clinical pharmacy specialist, taught several patients learning to battle addiction the science behind prescription drugs.

鈥淪o, basically the overarching message here is the higher the dose of the opioids, the higher the risk,鈥� he told the group, as he jotted numbers on a whiteboard. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e over these two doses, that鈥檚 a risk factor.鈥�

Amanda Bye, a clinical psychologist, works as part of an integrated medical team to treat people with chronic pain. (John Daley/Colorado Public Radio)

Upstairs, Gersch鈥檚 colleague Amanda Bye, a clinical psychologist, highlighted a key element of the program: It鈥檚 integrated. For patient care, there鈥檚 a doctor, a clinical pharmacist, two mental health therapists, a physical therapist and a nurse聽鈥� all on one floor. Patients can meet with this team, either all at once or in groups, but they do not have to deal with a series of referrals and appointments in different facilities. A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente said researchers tracked more than 80 patients over the course of a year and found the group鈥檚 emergency room visits decreased 25 percent. Inpatient admissions dropped 40 percent, and patients鈥� opioid use went way down.

鈥淲e brought in all these specialists. We all know the up-to-date research of what鈥檚 most effective in helping to manage pain,鈥� Bye said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 how the program got started.鈥�

Bye said the team helps patients use alternatives like exercise, meditation, acupuncture and mindfulness. Some patients, though, do need to go to the chemical dependency unit for medication-assisted treatment for their opioid addiction.聽 is an expert on integrated care with the national foundation Well Being Trust. Kaiser is on the right track, he said.

鈥淭he future of health care is integrated and, unfortunately, our history is very fragmented, and we鈥檙e just now catching up to developing a system of care that meets the needs of people,鈥� he said.

Similar projects in California showed a reduction in the number of prescriptions and pills per patient, said聽, director of high-value care at the聽. Her group released聽聽of three programs similar to Kaiser鈥檚 Colorado program. (Kaiser Health News produces California Healthline, an editorially independent publication of the California Health Care Foundation.)

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen great success with these models that are integrating complementary therapy, physical therapy, behavioral health and medical care,鈥� Pfeifer said. A key strategy is to gradually decrease the amount of opioids a patient takes, rather than cut them off before they鈥檙e ready. 鈥淚t works so much better when the patients have access to these complementary therapies,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it works even better when those complementary therapies are part of an integrated team.鈥�

But it can be difficult to implement universally. One challenge is scale: Big systems like Kaiser Permanente have ample resources and enough patients to make the effort work. Another issue is payment. Some insurers won鈥檛 pay for some alternative treatments; others have separate payment streams for different kinds of care.

鈥淔requently, behavioral health and medical health are paid for by entirely different systems,鈥� Pfeifer said.

Robert Kerley is recovering from an opioid addiction with help from Kaiser Permanente鈥檚 pain management program in Colorado. (John Daley/Colorado Public Radio)

The need for programs like Kaiser鈥檚 is urgent. In 2016, a record 912 people died from an overdose in Colorado, according to聽. Of those, 300 people died from an opioid overdose. Opioid use often leads to an addiction to heroin, which claimed another 228 lives last year in the state. Those two causes together now rival the number of deaths from car accidents in the state.

Colorado faces a severe shortage of treatment options. Making matters worse, the state鈥檚 largest substance abuse treatment provider, Arapahoe House,聽 Jan. 2.

Kaiser鈥檚 integrated pain service has given some patients a second chance.

Robert Kerley, now a veteran of the program, recently shared his story with other patients. 鈥淚 got my life back. I can sleep. I can eat. I can enjoy things,鈥� Kerley told them.

To cope with pain, Kerley starts his morning with stretching and a version of tai chi that he calls 鈥渕y chi.鈥� He practices deep breathing. His advice to others suffering from pain or addiction?

鈥淒o whatever it takes to walk away from it, like no matter what,鈥� Kerley said. 鈥淭rust me, it gets better. It gets 100 percent better than where you鈥檙e at right now.鈥�

Better for Kerley means his relationships with his family have improved. And he鈥檚 back at work, once again able to make a living as a truck driver.

This story is part of a reporting partnership with , 补苍诲听Kaiser Health News.