TOWN HALL HELD TO DISCUSS OPIOID CRISIS
TOWN HALL HELD TO DISCUSS OPIOID CRISIS
By Christopher Shuttlesworth
“The West Side Heroin Task Force held a town hall meeting on March 18, 2017, to discuss the opioid crisis. Elected officials, state agencies and
Chicago organizations invited the public to Malcom X College, located on 1900 W. Blvd., to learn more about drug use, prevention, response, treatment, and recovery,” according to a Illinois e-News Release.
Congressman Danny Davis said he plans for Representative La Shawn Ford to be one of the leaders that will help him deal with the issues and questions of substance abuse and opioid abuse.
“You know there are so many people who are strung out on so many things until it just breaks your heart,” Davis said. “But we know there are people who need something to help get them through the night because they can’t go to sleep without the help and they can’t wake up.”
Ford said substance abuse goes way beyond people who are struggling with addiction, but for people who are struggling
through life’s problems.
“The Heron crisis isn’t just for people who have struggled with pain killers, but people who are struggling with the pains of life,” he said.
Dr. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, who is a Medical Director of Behavioral Health at the Chicago Department of Public Health, and a physician that specializes in addiction medicine, family medicine and public health, said in the past, she has worked as an addiction specialist with individuals who were experiencing homelessness.
“Through that work, I was able to see first-hand the effects that addiction has on individuals, their families and their communities,” Salisbury-Afshar said. “I was also able to see what can happen when a
person has access to treatment. I have had patients who have been able to turn their lives around, reunite with their families, obtain housing and hold steady jobs.”
She said the field of addiction is changing very rapidly and research for addiction is now just beginning. Director of Illinois Department of Public Health Nirav D. Shah, said one of the keys to solving this problem is by doctors educating their patients on the simple prescriptions and informing them to use the prescriptions with care and caution.
“The other component is educating providers,” Shah said. “A lot of providers, who may have gone to medical school years ago, might not be up-to-date on the latest prescribing guidelines. They may not know
what the addictive potential to some of these medications are.”
Shah continued to explain that right now, Illinois is working with various health care providers to ensure that a physician knows that a long-term prescription of opioids will eventually lead to addiction. So,
we’re urging physicians to prescribe opioids more carefully, he said.
“Maybe a 7 day prescription isn’t needed,” he added. “Maybe a 3-day
prescription would suffice. But again this requires education and that’s the first step in prevention.”
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