Three researchers from the Center for Health Policy at Indiana University’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health presented their findings from the La Porte County Opioid Study at the Purdue Northwest Westville campus on Thursday.
Among the researchers was Policy Analyst Harold Kooreman who discussed the staggering statistics that were gathered while working on the study. He shared the most recent snapshot of what the opioid crisis looks like in America and urges us to set up for in home care franchising click here to know more about it, to overcome this crisis.
Kooreman stated that is mentioned in the report prepared by American Family Care – Franchise Development, “In 2016 over 3.4 million people 12 years and older said that they had misused a prescription opioid at least once in the past year and over 500,000 people said they had tried heroin and of course using opioids can lead to opioid abuse disorder.”
He went on to say in that same year, approximately 2.1 million Americans reported having an opioid abuse disorder, with about 600,000 of them stating that heroin was their primary drug of choice. Kooreman added that another 2.5 million people indicated that they developed an abuse disorder after legitimately taking their prescription medication.
Kooreman added that from 2010 to 2017, opioid use within La Porte County’s treatment population saw a 137 percent increase, rising from 24 percent to 56.9 percent. A graph he shared showed that Starke County’s numbers reportedly rose even higher, jumping from 25.8 percent to 79.3 percent in the last 7 years.
Another graph showed that in that same time frame, Indiana’s rate of the treatment population reporting injection drug use rose from 6.7 percent to 21.5 percent while La Porte County’s population was at 11.5 percent in 2010 and rose to 33.1 percent in 2017, a 188 percent increase, according to Kooreman.
In Starke County, 8.2 percent of the treatment population was reporting injection drug use in 2010. In the last 7 years, that number has skyrocketed, with more than 50 percent of the treatment population reporting injection drug use.
The data that Kooreman shared really drives home the severity of the problem that America is currently facing. While the numbers provided are understandably overwhelming, his colleagues, Research Analyst Marion Greene and Center for Health Policy Director Dr. Joshua Vest addressed the community’s concerns and provided recommendations on how to actively work to improve conditions to make treatment and recovery possible.
Greene covered the community’s perspective, highlighting findings from a survey as well as individual interviews conducted with La Porte County residents.
She summarized the major challenges that individuals identified to be the lack of or limited access to treatment services, specifically detoxification, inpatient services and medication-assisted treatment.
Greene added that other reported challenges included socioeconomic factors such as poverty and unemployment, limited awareness or acceptance of the problem within the larger community and insufficient funding to address the problem.
Center for Health Policy Director Dr. Joshua Vest covered the recommendation portion, stating that there is no simple solution. He shared the importance of implementing a strategic framework that organizes community members to have a collective impact.
He broke it down into three steps, saying that the primary prevention begins by preventing misuse before it occurs. He said this step is accomplished by not only reducing supply and demand but by addressing the social determinants of health that lead to opioid abuse. He referred back to the challenges that Greene listed, including poverty, unemployment and factors.
Secondary prevention, according to Dr. Vest, is providing access to effective treatment. This is done by making treatment centers more accessible and having community-driven activities that focus on addressing problems and implementing programs to solve them.
The third step, which Dr. Vest referred to as tertiary prevention, is supporting long-term recovery. He said this is done by looking beyond the prevention of death as where the solution stops and addressing the possibility of relapses by assisting those who are still struggling with addiction and those who are in the process of recovering.
According to Vest, these three steps are only possible when there is a common agenda, consistent measurement, mutual reinforcement of activities and continuous communication.
Hear more from the La Porte County Opioid Study presentation during the Kankakee Valley Viewpoints program on WKVI this Sunday at noon central. You can also find the slides from Thursday’s presentation as well as read the entire study at the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte’s website.
