The opioid epidemic has been called the worst public health crisis in America, affecting people from all walks of life, even our youngest. The second half of our story on the opioid epidemic explores how coalitions in Kentucky are driving prevention efforts, what public health practitioners in West Virginia are doing to identify and care for newborns who have been exposed prenatally to addictive drugs, and how one federal agency is working to ensure that rural communities get access substance abuse and mental health services.

GUESTS:

• Christina Mullins – West Virginia – Director, Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health, WV Department of Health and Human Resources
• Greg Corby-Lee – Director, HIV/AIDS Continuing Education, Kentucky Public Health
• Joe Markiewicz – Program Coordinator, Statewide Prescription Drug Overdose Reduction Initiative, Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC), University of Kentucky College of Public Health 
• Dr. Aaron Lopata – Chief Medical Officer, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services

NEWS CLIPS:

• PBS NewsHour: Opioid addiction is the biggest drug epidemic in U.S. history. How’d we get here? https://youtu.be/GOsWnVtGU10
• TODAY: Drug Manufacturers Sued On Behalf Of Opioid-Dependent Babies https://youtu.be/G_BwydNfdRo 

For more information on the grants and programs mentioned on this program, visit: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2017/09/14/hrsa-awards-200-million-to-health-centers-nationwide.html.

The link above includes information about

1. The Access Increases in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (AIMS) awards (the $200 million to 1,178 health centers and 13 rural health organizations in every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin to increase access to substance abuse and mental health services).
2. The new Rural Health Opioid Program (RHOP) (provides approximately $2.5 million for 10 rural health organizations in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, and Virginia to help community members struggling with opioid abuse find locally available treatment options and support services through partnerships with local health care providers and other community-based groups).

As the opioid epidemic continues to plague communities across the nation, health officials face growing concern over a number of related threats to our health, such as increasing rates of HIV, hepatitis C, and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). In this episode, public health leaders from Alaska, Kentucky, and West Virginia discuss the evolution of the opioid epidemic and explain why health departments are so integral to the response.

GUESTS:

• Rahul Gupta, commissioner and state health officer, West Virginia Bureau for Public Health
• Connie White, senior deputy commissioner, Kentucky Department for Public Health
• Jay Butler, chief medical officer, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services

NEWS SOURCE:

• ABC News: On the front lines of the opioid crisis across the US: Part 1 https://youtu.be/s4LV0tBZncI