Dec 20 Health Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis After years of leading the nation in overdose death rates, Ohio Valley communities are looking for new ways to deal with the addiction crisis. A national nonprofit organization promotes and partners with programs that do just that. The Addiction Policy Forum celebrated new ideas at events in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia to honor programs […] By Aaron Payne Dec 20 Health Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis Aaron Payne
Oct 18 Health How Should Opioid Lawsuit Money Be Spent? Ohio Valley Has No Shortage Of Needs At a town hall event in Logan, Ohio, Kelly Taulbee walks through the steps of an encounter with someone experiencing an opioid overdose. She’s training a group to use NARCAN, the opioid reversal medication. She pulled out the small applicator and demonstrated how easy it is to spray the medication in someone’s nose. As the […] By Aaron Payne Oct 18 Health How Should Opioid Lawsuit Money Be Spent? Ohio Valley Has No Shortage Of Needs Aaron Payne
Jul 17 Health New Data Show Opioid Deaths May Have Peaked, And Reveal Scale Of Past Pain Pill Sales Two newly released sets of government data show that the death toll from the nation’s opioid crisis may finally be dropping and also reveal the scale of the pain pill sales that help set the crisis in motion. The data for the Ohio Valley show how hard the region was hit and how hard people […] By Aaron Payne Jul 17 Health New Data Show Opioid Deaths May Have Peaked, And Reveal Scale Of Past Pain Pill Sales Aaron Payne
Jul 12 Health New Prescription: Ohio Valley Native Dr. Patrice Harris Is First Black Woman To Lead AMA Dr. Patrice Harris took the oath in June to become the first African-American woman to serve as president of the powerful American Medical Association, the largest professional association for physicians in the United States. Harris also brings another unique perspective to the job as someone who grew up in rural Appalachia. “I was born and […] By Aaron Payne Jul 12 Health New Prescription: Ohio Valley Native Dr. Patrice Harris Is First Black Woman To Lead AMA Aaron Payne
May 24 Economy Working Toward Recovery: Ohio Town Fights Addiction With Focus On Economy This is the second story in an occasional series exploring the links between addiction recovery and a recovering economy. Addiction specialists, business leaders, law enforcement officials and other community members gathered around tables at Shawnee State University to talk about two big challenges in Scioto County, Ohio: a shrinking economy and a growing addiction crisis. […] By Aaron Payne May 24 Economy Working Toward Recovery: Ohio Town Fights Addiction With Focus On Economy Aaron Payne
Apr 17 Health Federal Opioid Strikeforce Indicts More Than A Dozen Ohio Valley Doctors The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday more than a dozen indictments against doctors in the Ohio Valley on charges relating to the illegal distribution of opioids. These are the first major indictments from the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force, which started work in December. “The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis […] By Aaron Payne Apr 17 Health Federal Opioid Strikeforce Indicts More Than A Dozen Ohio Valley Doctors Aaron Payne
Feb 21 Economy New ARC Grants Combine Economic Recovery And Addiction Recovery The Appalachian Regional Commission announced Thursday another $22.8 million in funding to 33 projects aimed at revitalizing economies in places affected by the decline in the coal industry. The awards are the latest in the ARC’s POWER Initiative, an acronym for Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization. Congress has funded the initiative for […] By Jeff Young and Becca Schimmel Feb 21 Economy New ARC Grants Combine Economic Recovery And Addiction Recovery Jeff Young and Becca Schimmel
Feb 15 Health As Opioid Crisis Affects A New Generation, Experts Study Long-Term Effects Of Prenatal Exposure Sue Meeks has worked with children for years as a registered nurse. Meeks manages the family navigator program at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio. Several years ago, she started noticing three and four-year-olds coming into the program with certain distinctive behaviors. “Children that appear to be neurologically very overstimulated,” she […] By Aaron Payne Feb 15 Health As Opioid Crisis Affects A New Generation, Experts Study Long-Term Effects Of Prenatal Exposure Aaron Payne
Oct 12 Health The Doctor And The Epidemic: Three Years At Ground Zero Of The Opioid Crisis When Dr. Rahul Gupta started work as West Virginia’s chief health officer his state was already ground zero for the opioid epidemic, with some of the nation’s highest rates of addiction and overdose fatalities. That was 2015, and 735 state residents died from overdoses that year. Preliminary data for 2017 show there were 1,011 […] By Aaron Payne Oct 12 Health The Doctor And The Epidemic: Three Years At Ground Zero Of The Opioid Crisis Aaron Payne
Sep 20 Health Surgeon General Says Opioid Crisis Requires Fight Against Stigma In a comprehensive new report on the opioid crisis, the U.S. surgeon general writes that stigma remains a major barrier to treatment and urges a more supportive approach to those in need. Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote in his Spotlight on Opioids report that stigma has prevented people with opioid use disorders from seeking treatment. […] By Aaron Payne Sep 20 Health Surgeon General Says Opioid Crisis Requires Fight Against Stigma Aaron Payne