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 […]
Read MoreAuthor: Aaron Payne
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 […]
Read MoreNew 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 […]
Read MoreThe 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 […]
Read MoreRural 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 […]
Read MoreBack To The Garden: How Green Thumbs Help With Addiction Recovery
Meredith Jensen is doing some gardening on a sunny day in a secluded part of Athens, Ohio. “I’m working on our pollinator garden beds,” she said. “Which are a bunch of fun flowers that’ll help attract butterflies, bumble bees, you name it.” Her partner Jamie Betit pushes a full wheel […]
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