While Will County officials have taken many steps to address the opioid crisis locally, at least one administrator has joined an effort to develop an action plan to ease the problem statewide.
Dr. Kathleen Burke, director of Will County’s Substance Abuse Initiatives, said she is part of the Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council, which has recently made recommendations to the governor on how to address this epidemic.
Since opioids have now claimed more lives than the HIV epidemic, Burke said the current problem needs to be looked at from “a systemic level.”
The statewide plan includes preventing the further spread of the opioid crisis, providing treatment and recovery services to those with substance abuse disorders, and stopping opioid deaths.
With synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, on the market, the crisis will get worse before it gets better, according to the advisory council.
“Mental health is at the crux of a lot of addiction and we have decimated treatment for that,” Burke said.
Will County has been ahead of the game, but the county’s “big barrier” is a lack of access to care and treatment, she said.
Stepping Stones is currently the only treatment center in the county, but it is limited to 15 beds.
The hospitals in the county do not provide detox facilities, which is the first step in a treatment program. While Silver Cross is building a new 100-bed mental health hospital, Burke said they can’t wait that long.
“The whole state is in bad shape when it comes to services,” Burke said. “People don’t know where to go because no one is helping them.”
“We do not have enough support in Illinois. There is no money for behavioral health. We are at risk of not taking care of people and contributing to opioid deaths,” Burke said.
In moving this crisis from a grassroots effort to a governmental level, Burke recently participated in a panel discussion with Governor Bruce Rauner’s Opioid Prevention and Intervention Task Force.
She talked about the county’s effort to expand its distribution of Naloxone, an opioid antidote, educational efforts in schools and Safe Passage programs with the local police.
“There is such a lack of understanding. Any understanding I can bring to this, thrills me,” Burke said.
The governor’s group is moving throughout the state and listening to former users and their families, law enforcement and health care officials, and community groups to determine what has worked. From this, they will develop a plan to implement the recommendations of the advisory council, Burke said.
If federal government would declare it a national emergency, it would open up funding to address the escalating crisis, and allow them to fight it on many levels, she said.
The goal of the state’s plan is to reduce opioid-related deaths by 33 percent in three years. To accomplish this, the advisory council has recommended several key strategies:
*Increase the number of doctors using the Prescription Monitoring Program — an electronic database that tracks dispensation of controlled substances, to reduce drug misuse and prevent patients from doctor shopping.
*Reduce the number of opioid prescriptions.
*Educate the public about substance abuse disorders, and reduce the stigmas attached to it.
*Increase prevention programs in schools.
*Collect, analyze and share opioid-related data
*Increase access to care for those with opioid abuse disorders, including Medication-Assisted Treatments and recovery support services.
*Help judges understand the best ways to deal with mental health patients and increase services to assist substance abusers when they are released from jail.
*Increase access to Naloxone to family and community members, as well as first responders.
Beyond that, Burke said there is also an effort to change the Medicaid laws which limit treatment centers to 15 beds for mental health patients.
Personally, she would like to bring more scientists to the table, to do more research, and discover new treatments.
Burke said she believes all these efforts are making a difference.
“It is moving forward. It is not just standing still. But we are moving a system that doesn’t like to move,” she said.
Twitter @SusanLaff
