Medios de comunicación - 12 de febrero de 2020 - A petición de los senadores estatales Tim Kearney (D- Chester / Delaware) y Anthony H. Williams (D - Delaware / Filadelfia), el Comité de Política Demócrata del Senado celebró hoy una audiencia sobre la lucha contra la epidemia de adicción a los opioides en Pensilvania.
"La epidemia de opiáceos ha golpeado duramente a nuestras comunidades, y va a ser necesario un enfoque global para prevenir la adicción, poner a la gente en tratamiento y salvar vidas", dijo Kearney. "Esta audiencia será fundamental para desarrollar los planes audaces que necesitamos para hacer frente a esta crisis de frente y proporcionar a las comunidades los recursos que necesitan."
Williams added, “The opioid epidemic has hit Philadelphia particularly hard. We need to find compassionate solutions for getting these drugs out of our communities, and for healing the individuals and families who have been harmed most by opioid addiction.”
In his testimony, Deputy Director of Health Preparedness and Community Protection at the Pennsylvania Department of Health Raphael M. Barishansky, said that since Governor Tom Wolf declared a disaster declaration on Jan. 10, 2018, Pennsylvania can now track opioid overdose and recovery statistics, as well as provide the lifesaving overdose reversal drug widely across the state through a standing order by the state Physician General.
According to the Opioid Data Dashboard compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, there have been 29,610 doses of Naloxone Administered by emergency medical services from Jan. 1, 2018 to Dec. 7, 2019. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, can help reverse opioid overdoses.
“These efforts have resulted in more than 7,102 reported overdose reversals to date,” Barishansky said.
In 2017, Philadelphia had the highest rates of deaths resulting from overdose in Pennsylvania with 1,118. Pittsburgh had the second highest rate of overdose deaths with 487.
Dr. Valerie A. Arkoosh, Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, as well as a physician anesthesiologist with a master’s in public health, recommended to the Policy Committee that preventing future opioid overdose and preventing relapses of those in recovery will require a combination of safe recovery housing, evidence-based prevention programs, and medication assisted treatment programs.
Arkoosh also said that mandated insurance coverage for alternative pain management like acupuncture, chiropractors and yoga would prevent patients from becoming reliant on opioids in their pain management treatments.
“We really need to take a holistic approach here,” Arkoosh said.
Pennsylvania pharmacist Daniel Ventricelli said that medication assisted treatment (MAT) such as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, should not be as difficult to obtain as they are currently. He said that MAT has been proven to be the most effective treatment to prevent overdose deaths.
“If you want to save lives, medication assisted treatment in the way to do that,” Rosemarie Halt, Senior Director of Policy at the Maternity Care Coalition, said.
Halt said that MAT saves lives, and social services, like those provided by Maternity Care Coalition, help to rebuild lives and keep people and family healthy long term.
Senator Lisa M. Boscola (D- Lehigh/Northampton) who chairs the policy committee, expressed that, “We can’t afford to stand still when it comes to fighting the Opioid epidemic. We always need to be evaluating what works and what doesn’t. Education and access to treatment is critical.”
Senators Steve Santarsiero (D- Bucks), Sharif Street (D- Philadelphia), and Reps. Leanne Krueger (D- Delaware) and Mike Zabel (D- Delaware) were in attendance at the hearing.
Entre los testigos figuran:
- Ray Barishansky, Deputy Secretary for Health Preparedness and Community Protection, Pennsylvania Department of Health
- Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, Commissioner, Montgomery County
- Tracy Pugh, Senior Program Officer, Overdose Prevention Program, Vital Strategies
- Jennifer Jordan, Vice President, Regulatory Advocacy, Hospital Association of Pennsylvania
- Dan Ventricelli, PharmD, MPH, Regional Overdose Prevention Coalition
- Rosemarie Halt, Senior Director of Policy, Maternity Care Coalition
- Sterling Johnson, Harm Reduction Advocate
- Elwood Porter, Co-founder, Philadelphia Drug Users’ Union
- Tom Maioli, Executive Director, PA Sheriff’s Association
La grabación completa de la audiencia estará disponible en senatorboscola.com/policy.
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