741: Rhode Island’s Opioid Strategy, PH Detectives Hunt for TB Meds

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, September 3, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

RACHEL WIGHTMAN: 

In the most recent data that was reported on overdose fatalities in Rhode Island, we had a reduction in 7.3% of fatalities.

JOHNSON: 

Officials in Rhode Island working to understand the drop in overdose fatalities possibly the result of a multilevel approach to address the opioid epidemic. Dr. Rachel Wightman is a consultant to the state's health department. She says emergency department and EMS data are helping to inform the work.

WIGHTMAN: 

And these data are combined to offer an up-to-date view of overdose trends, hot spots, and EMS utilization, and are used by mobile outreach teams. Which are very close to what's going on in the community.

JOHNSON: 

And then there are the partner organizations who operate mobile outreach teams. Wightman says they help connect care with people who need it.

WIGHTMAN: 

These outreach teams do so much more than service provision or hand things out, but they develop these personal connections with people at risk for overdose. And those relationships can really help people across different stages of drug use and recovery.

JOHNSON: 

Those connections can make the difference when it comes to reaching people at risk of overdose.

WIGHTMAN: 

It's challenging for our states to really understand the problems that need to be solved without the insight from those community partners that are on the ground doing the day-to-day outreach work.

JOHNSON: 

Rhode Island has a news release with more information about the new overdose numbers. You can read it using the link in the show notes.

Tuberculosis drug shortages have led some public health professionals to become detectives on a never-ending search for the medications needed to treat people in their states and territories. Kelly White is at the Indiana Department of Health.

KELLY WHITE: 

We are lucky in Indiana to have a great partner with a contracted private pharmacy. They're our first line of defense and best partner to share with us when we expect to have issues with availability and medication. But we work closely with the National TB Coalition of America and the CDC to alert them of challenges that we're hearing. And also, CDC maintains a stockpile of medications we can sometimes use from. And then, honestly it is anyone else who has TB medication.

JOHNSON: 

Sometimes the search leads to a trade with another agency.

WHITE: 

So we twice have actually engaged other TB programs another state and a nearby big city, and actually had them ship us bottles of medication that we then reciprocated back when we were able to get access, because that's a really quick turnaround.

JOHNSON: 

If your organization hasn't had this problem, White says the chances are good that you will. Which is why she advises jurisdictions be prepared.

WHITE: 

So that when the time comes that you need to have a new partner, you need to have a new contract set up, or purchase medications at a different rate, you already have those steps kind of outlined, and people know what you're talking about is really, really helpful.

JOHNSON: 

White helped write an ASTHO blog article about the problem and ways to address it. You can read it now by clicking the link in the show notes.

JOHNSON: 

Also today, performance management is on the agenda of a webinar to be hosted by ASTHO and the Public Health Foundation on September 17th. Attendees will learn strategies they can use immediately to operationalize PM approaches in their agencies. Learn more and reserve your seat with the link in the show notes.

Finally, this morning, ASTHO has a new member to tell you about. Dr. Kelly Kimple is the new Acting Director of the North Carolina Division of Public Health. Kimple is a pediatrician and a preventive medicine physician. You can read her bio on ASTHO's member directory. There's a link in the show notes.

Before we go, a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information.

I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition.

Have a great day.