It’s STILL About Whole-Person, Whole-Community… Opioid Abuse and Addiction

The table below from the CDC illustrates what we hear all the time on the news and in our communities: drug overdose deaths are on the rise. It’s both heartbreaking and shocking! Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137%, including a 200% increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids. Escape from chronic pain, caused by a myriad of physical ailments, often initiates the journey to overuse and addiction.

Rather than focusing on the enormous and incredibly complicated routes to opioid addiction, this newsletter will take this opportunity to shine a light on some of the people, communities and projects that are working to make a difference. Once again, our mantra at the Foundation, “it’s a whole-person, whole-community thing,” holds true. Solving this issue is not possible by a single person or a single agency/institution; it’s about how we all can work together.

Rural communities are particularly vulnerable to this issue for a variety of reasons. Access to care, access to pain management, and the number of heavy labor occupations inherent in the economy of these communities have all been linked as reasons for increased opioid use. Research has also shown that prescription drug use in some rural areas is an embedded part of the culture, as they are often prescribed them to maintain a steady workflow in heavy labor occupations.

The Foundation houses The NC Rural Health Leadership Alliance, a group that works closely with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) on a variety of issues. In February, NRHA provided testimony to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary regarding mental health and substance abuse issues in rural America. The following is a summary of the comments and recommendations from NRHA:

Rural Americans in need of substance abuse treatment services and behavioral health care will find that access to care can be limited.
Even with rural telemedicine services improving access to mental health care, 60 percent of rural Americans live in a mental health professional shortage area.
Rural Americans are forced to travel significant distances for care, especially specialty services such as mental health services and pain management.
With rural hospital closures, rural Americans are farther away from emergency care, as well as options for the ongoing treatment that is essential for successfully treating substance abuse.
The differences between rural and urban settings, culture and resource availability means the solution for rural America must be uniquely tailored to this population.
Treatment programs must be available locally and should be tailored to the unique needs and characteristics of rural Americans. Treatment programs must be able to leverage the health care providers in the community while using tele-health and other resources to bring new providers into the community.
The implementation of models to engage rural communities in addressing opioid issues must be supported. Broad community coalitions, including schools, law enforcement and medical providers need to be a part of the rural solution.
Evidence-based prevention programs tailored to the needs of rural communities must be identified and developed.
Implementation of harm reduction strategies must increase. Harm reduction is an essential part of dealing with the existing problem and will require training of both law enforcement and first responders. It will also require administering interventions known to reduce the harm of drug use including needle exchange and naloxone.
Use of evidence-based prescribing guidelines need to be promoted. Pain management is an important component of health care. However, measurement of hospital and physician quality must balance the need to address patient’s legitimate pain with the need to avoid misuse and diversion of pain medications.
State prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) must be strengthened.
Use of substance abuse treatment as an alternative to incarceration for opioid users must expand. Those facing substance abuse or mental health crisis may wait years before seeking treatment from a professional, especially in rural America where the stigma discourages people from seeking treatment and views addiction as moral failure.

For the complete testimony from NRHA to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, visit: http://connect.nrharural.org/blogs/erin-mahn/2016/02/22/nrha-submits-testimony-on

An enormous thank you to all the people engaged in this work every day. At the end of the day, success comes from the work done by communities, their citizens and the people who need their help.

-Maggie Sauer

CEO & President