Tags Posts tagged with "Opioid Crisis Recovery"

Opioid Crisis Recovery

Sandeep Kapoor, MD, AVP of addiction services for Northwell Health Emergency Medicine Services, stopped by Mather Hospital’s Overdose Awareness Day information table Tuesday to chat with Richard Poveromo, LMSW, AVP for Transitions of Care, and Alice Miller, LCSW-R, Director of Mather’s Outpatient Chemical Dependency Program. The table offered information on overdose prevention and how to reverse an opioid overdose using NARCAN. Photo from Mather Hospital

In recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31, Northwell Health held a system-wide event to provide resources to help prevent future overdoses, as well as recognizing those whose lives have already been cut short by substance use.

The effort included the staffing of tables at 13 Northwell facilities where patients, employees and members of the public could find information about the wide range of services and programs offered by the health system for people struggling with a substance use issue and for concerned relatives, friends and members of the community.

“Awareness and understanding are some of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against the opioid epidemic,” said Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, assistant vice president of addiction services for Northwell’s emergency medicine service line. “Events like these provide members of our community with the tools they need to protect themselves and their loved ones. And by framing substance use as a medical issue like any other, we help lift the stigma that can close people off from seeking help.”

Mather Hospital had a table in the main lobby beginning at 11 a.m., offering overdose information as well as NARCAN training to reverse an opioid overdose. People in attendance could be trained in the use of naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, and after training, they could receive a rescue kit containing the medicine. 

Information was also available on how to access addiction care provided by Northwell and other providers in the community, as well as how to connect with Northwell’s Employee and Family Assistance Program, a free and confidential counseling service available to the health system’s 76,000 employees and family members.

“Our employees are not immune to this crisis and neither are their families,” said Patricia Flynn, assistant vice president of employee wellness at Northwell. “We are committed to providing them the support they need to stay healthy, physically, emotionally and mentally.”

Drug overdose deaths in the United States increased by nearly 30% in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reaching a record level of more than 93,000. Experts point to the extreme stress caused by the pandemic as a likely cause, along with increased difficulty in accessing treatment.

 “Substance misuse and addiction are profound threats to the health of our community, and we can’t allow the focus on COVID-19 to deflect us from our work to prevent and treat their effects,” said Bruce Goldman, LCSW, senior director of behavioral health at Northwell and head of substance abuse services at Zucker Hillside Hospital, a Northwell behavioral health facility. “Even in the midst of the pandemic, substance use disorders remain one of the primary drivers of misery. We want our patients and our workforce to understand that no matter what their needs, help is available at Northwell.”

At its Nov. 19 meeting, the Huntington Town Board moved to take legal action against opioid manufacturers, distributors and sellers to recover the Town’s costs of fighting the opioid epidemic, and conducted other town business.

The Town Board approved the retention of Tate Grossman Kelly & Iaccarino, LLP (TGKI Law) to represent the legal interests of the town  and its special districts. The firm has decades of collective experience with complex mass tort and multidistrict litigation representing dozens of municipalities seeking reimbursement for monies spent addressing the opioid crisis. It will commence an action against the manufacturers, distributors and sellers of opioids, and all other responsible parties, to recover all damages and costs incurred and to be incurred by the Town and its special districts in connection with the opioid crisis.

Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) and Councilman Eugene Cook (I) co-sponsored the resolution hiring the self-described opioid crisis recovery law firm.

“Given the specialized nature of this litigation, hiring TGKI Law will benefit the Town and our residents, not only from their expertise in this area, having represented other municipalities fighting the opioid crisis, including those on Long Island,” said Lupinacci, “but in sharing the costs for their expert consultants with those other municipalities, reducing the litigation costs for our residents, to ensure those who helped create this public health and safety crisis are made responsible for the costs of fighting it.”

The Town’s case will be part of all federal cases nationwide. 

“It is extremely important that the Town of Huntington retain Tate Grossman Kelly & Iaccarino, LLP to handle this complex litigation to recover the financial costs of the opioid crisis, to the Huntington community against the manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of these opioid medications. Unfortunately, this lawsuit will not recover the harm and heartbreak this crisis has brought to the victims and their families who suffer or lost their life to opioids,” stated Cook. “This is a necessary first step to hold the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the monies spent on health care, substance abuse programs, public education, Narcan training and supplies and the criminal justice costs associated with the misuse of these prescription drugs.”