895: Opioid Efforts, Long COVID Programming

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Tuesday, April 29, 2025. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

KAITLAN BASTON: 

Methadone has so many more regulations than other opioids, and it's a treatment, a very effective treatment, for opioid use disorder. And so we're constantly working to unwind some of those regulations so that it is more available, more widely available.

JOHNSON: 

That's ASTHO member [Correction: Alumni], Dr. Kaitlan Baston, former commissioner of health for the New Jersey Department of Health. Baston announced last week that she would be leaving her role at the New Jersey DOH for another opportunity. We had the chance to sit down with her and get her reflections on her time as commissioner, and one of the highlights was successful efforts reducing opioid use. The New Jersey Department of Health recently announced a rule waiver that will enhance access to opioid treatment services across the state.

BASTON: 

It's just so critical that we all work together in the public health space on addiction because it really is a public health issue. You know, this is not a criminal issue. This is not a moral failing. This is a medical issue and a prime, you know, area for us to intervene because it has incredibly effective interventions.

JOHNSON: 

Baston says the Public Health Department has been working to reduce opioid use with every strategy they can.

BASTON: 

When I came in as commissioner, we only had seven harm reduction centers in the entire state of New Jersey. We now have over 50, five-zero, approved in our state, and we're doing a ton of innovative work in those harm reduction centers, including making access to medication available, and testing, and just other public health work.

JOHNSON: 

She also says a highlight of her tenure as commissioner is seeing the results from these efforts.

BASTON: 

The latest data that I have in New Jersey shows that we finally decreased overdose deaths across all racial and ethnic groups for the first time, so we're really doing some work to combat disparities and get into communities where we weren't reaching in the past.

JOHNSON: 

And it's working. We'll bring you more from the Baston interview later this week, and you can learn more about New Jersey's rule waiver. There's a link in the show notes.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced that long-time public health leader Jeff Brown will serve as acting commissioner of the Department, and he starts this week. You can learn more about him and read that announcement by heading to the show notes.

Long COVID illness struggles continue to be a challenge for many health departments and some states are working to fill the gaps to address it. The Minnesota Department of Health built a program dedicated entirely to Long COVID and post-COVID. Kate Murray leads that program.

KATE MURRAY: 

Certainly, the official establishment of our program by statute, and the appropriation of some state funding has been critical, so, that has allowed us the time and means to engage communities and different sectors around the issue and to collaborate across our agency in innovative ways to really bridge chronic and infectious disease.

JOHNSON: 

Murray says investment is very important, but relationships matter just as much.

MURRAY: 

We have collaborated and built trust with dozens of partners across health care, community-based organizations, and patient and caregiver communities, and across public health and continue to create spaces for bi-directional learning among this network. So, all the funding in the world won't move the needle on things like disparities if you don't foster those connections and relationships,

JOHNSON: 

Even if your department can't invest in an entire program, small additions can have a big impact on your community.

MURRAY: 

They don't need to reinvent the wheel, and really, just having a blurb or a web page dedicated to these conditions on a health department's website can go a long way toward validating them and the people experiencing them.

JOHNSON: 

More information on Minnesota's Long COVID and post-COVID program is online now. You can click the link in the show notes to learn more.

Also, on deck this week, this Thursday, May 1, you can join an ASTHO webinar to learn all about developing academic health department partnerships. The Tennessee Department of Health, the Rhode Island Department of Health, and other experts will arm you with the tools to start. There's still time to sign up. Check the show notes for a link.

Finally, ASTHO member and the New York Commissioner of Health, Dr. James McDonald, will speak at Blooming Day 2025 this Friday, May 2. The topic is 'Navigating Change with Confidence.' You can still register to attend online or in-person. There's a link in the show notes.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Summer Johnson, you're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.