Oct 24 Health Ohio Valley Lawmakers Helped Shape Bipartisan Bill On Opioid Crisis A year after President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, he signed a bipartisan bill Wednesday to bolster law enforcement efforts and expand addiction treatment and resources. Proponents hope the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act helps the Ohio Valley, which suffers some of the nation’s highest rates of addiction and […] By Aaron Payne Oct 24 Health Ohio Valley Lawmakers Helped Shape Bipartisan Bill On Opioid Crisis 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 28 Health Driving While Recovering: For Some Fighting Addiction, A Roadblock On The Path To Sobriety After decades of addiction to heroin and prescription opioids, Wendy Crites finally made a clean break. “For the first time in my life I just wanted to be off of it,” she said from her home in Ranson, West Virginia. “I hit rock bottom.” Last year the ReSource profiled Crites, a single mother getting by […] By Jeff Young Sep 28 Health Driving While Recovering: For Some Fighting Addiction, A Roadblock On The Path To Sobriety Jeff Young
Sep 27 Health New Ohio Data Show Sharp Increase In Overdose Deaths From The Opioid Fentanyl New official state data from the Ohio Department of Health show 4,854 people died of drug overdoses in 2017, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. The new data add to evidence from around the Ohio Valley showing deaths related to the opioid crisis continued to rise in 2017 as state records begin to […] By Aaron Payne Sep 27 Health New Ohio Data Show Sharp Increase In Overdose Deaths From The Opioid Fentanyl 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
Sep 14 Health The New DARE: Schools Aim To Stop Next Generation Of Opioid Crisis New data from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health show a rare bright spot amid the opioid crisis. Fewer high schoolers in the region appear to be using opioids. School officials in the Ohio Valley want to continue that trend with more school-based programs designed to help prevent substance use disorders. But […] By Aaron Payne Sep 14 Health The New DARE: Schools Aim To Stop Next Generation Of Opioid Crisis Aaron Payne
Aug 17 Health Rural Risk: Mobile Clinics Help Tackle Multifaceted Opioid Crisis In a room at the Letcher County Health Department in Whitesburg, Kentucky, about 20 people are learning how to use naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication. Among them is 18-year-old Morgan Hopkins. An aspiring therapist, Hopkins said she wants to be ready with naloxone if someone overdoses around her. “You never know what you’re going […] By Aaron Payne Aug 17 Health Rural Risk: Mobile Clinics Help Tackle Multifaceted Opioid Crisis Aaron Payne
Aug 1 Health Ohio Collaborative Seeking Solutions To Opioid Crisis An Ohio-based collaborative thinks journalists can play a bigger role in solving the region’s opioid crisis. The effort starts with listening to people in some of the hardest-hit communities. A group of about 50 people gathered in a small building at the fairgrounds in Marietta, Ohio, to share their thoughts on the region’s opioid crisis […] By Aaron Payne Aug 1 Health Ohio Collaborative Seeking Solutions To Opioid Crisis Aaron Payne
Jul 27 Health Infection And Inequality: How The Income Gap Fuels Ohio Valley’s Hep A Outbreak Jim Thacker is frustrated. The spokesperson for the Madison County, Kentucky, Health Department said there is a real threat of a Hepatitis A outbreak at the detention center right down the road in Richmond. Built to house about 240 inmates, it holds more than 400. “It’s like a petri dish, they are packed so close […] By Mary Meehan Jul 27 Health Infection And Inequality: How The Income Gap Fuels Ohio Valley’s Hep A Outbreak Mary Meehan
Jul 27 Health Ohio Valley Overdose Deaths Continue Grim Rise As Data Reflect Fentanyl’s Role Health officials in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia say the number of overdose deaths related to the opioid crisis continued to rise in 2017 as state data began to reflect the fatalities related to the powerful drug fentanyl. A new report from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy found 1,565 died from drug overdoses […] By Aaron Payne Jul 27 Health Ohio Valley Overdose Deaths Continue Grim Rise As Data Reflect Fentanyl’s Role Aaron Payne