HJBR Mar-Apr 2019

Healthcare Journal of BATON ROUGE I  MAR / APR 2019 33 CAHS Prevention Division Director Vivian Gettys, RN, MPH. The plan includes national research, thoughtful recommendations, and action steps based on presentations by local experts in the field, best practices, and input from stakeholders in nine topic areas. Those areas include understanding addiction and reducing stigma; prevention services; law enforcement, criminal justice reform and corrections; prescribing practices; harm reduction; pain management; detoxifica- tion, medication-assisted treatment, and supportive counseling; treatment of preg- nant women and neonatal abstinence syn- drome; and recovery services and commu- nity supports. There is also an appendix with resource links to all of the presenta- tions made during the months-long study of the issues. The development of the plan began in late 2017. Later, in recognition of the opioid crisis impacting the local community, the mayor- president of Baton Rouge issued a procla- mation designatingMarch of 2018 as Opioid Misuse and Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Support Awareness Month. She noted in her proclamation that a com- prehensive approach offers the best chance to make an impact in the Greater Baton Rouge region on opioid addiction, and to address overdoses to save lives. The community has already accom- plishedmuch in the development and pub- lication of the plan, and now community groups and providers will mobilize com- munity resources as outlined in the “Com- munity-Wide Response Plan to the Opioid Epidemic,”with the goal of reducing harm- ful consequences and deaths from opioid abuse and addiction. “It is vital for public officials and stake- holders to actively embrace the key points that are captured in the nine chapters of the plan, commit to implementing activities that are outlined, and to provide key actions at the March 2019 meeting of the Capital Region Behavioral Health Collaborative to report on accomplishments,”said Kasofsky. AmeriHealth and CAHS’ Opioid Preven- tion Alliance for Ladies and Girls (OPAL) assisted with sponsorship of the summit. The plan can be viewed by going to realhelpbr.org . Copies can be obtained by emailing karen.bray@la.gov . Organizations, agencies, and health providers are invited to attend the Behavioral Health Collabora- tive monthlymeetings by contacting karen. bray@la.gov . (See summany of the plan page 34) Capital Area Human Services (CAHS) Opioid Addiction Plan Shown at the Capital Region Behavioral Health Collaborative Summit held to release the Community-Wide Response Plan to the Opioid Epidemic are, left to right, Jan Kasofsky, PhD, executive director of Capital Area Human Services; Aniedi Udofa, MD, medical director for Capital Area Human Services; Mayor Sharon Weston- Broome; and William “Beau” Clark, MD, D-ABMDI, East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner.

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