Local EMS, Law Enforcement Collaborate to Combat Opioid Addiction

It will take a joint effort by law enforcement, health care providers, social workers and addiction recovery professionals to combat the opioid crisis. What do you get when you put together two recovering opioid users, two police chiefs, a narcotics officer, an EMS supervisor and a social worker? The answer is not a punch line or a crime drama. The answer is solutions. You get solutions. Those participants met last week at a remarkable panel discussion, presented by Triad Behavioral Resources & New Vision Therapy, to talk about addressing opioid addiction. "I'm very exited to have this conversation," said Chase Holleman, Naloxone coordinator with Caring Services, an addiction treatment center in High Point. "I'm really excited because law enforcement agencies across the state and across the nation have been innovators and leaders ... sticking their neck out and creating awesome interventions and programs to help folks like me who are affected by substance abuse." When Holleman overcame his addiction to heroin, his life had been saved three times by Naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Now, he works to save others and get them on the path to recovery. Increasingly, law enforcement agencies are working collaboratively with health-care providers, social workers and addiction recovery professionals on more effective ways to combat the opioid crisis, which claimed more than 33,000 Americans in 2015. Overdose deaths involving ...
Source: JEMS Administration and Leadership - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Patient Care News Administration and Leadership Source Type: news