OPIOID CRISIS
3/5/2021
Two LENDS Collaborate to Help Trainees
By Jennifer Drummond
Striving to train the next generation of child and maternal healthcare leaders is more than a slogan for Va-LEND (Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities). It is an ideal, which includes innovative ways to make training more effective. One such example is the collaboration between another LEND program.
3/3/2021
Building Futures Together Prepares Paraprofessionals to Provide Specialized Care in Response to Opioid Epidemic
The Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability (IOD) a $2.4 million grant for Building Futures Together, a program seeking to prepare 98 paraprofessionals in healthcare and school settings to provide specialized enhanced care coordination to children, youth and their caregivers whose parents are impacted by opioid and other substance use disorders. With cost posing a significant barrier for many paraprofessionals seeking further training, the grant allows the program to be offered at no charge as well as provide stipends to participants.
12/14/2020
Buckeye SCOPE: Supporting Children of the Opioid Epidemic ECHO Series
The Ohio State University Nisonger Center in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) launched the Buckeye SCOPE: Supporting Children of the Opioid Epidemic ECHO series on August 7th, 2020.
12/11/2020
Dr. JoAnne Malloy at UNH Receives HRSA Building Futures Together GrantDr. JoAnne Malloy at UNH Receives HRSA Building Futures Together Grant
Dr. JoAnne Malloy, research associate professor, recently received $2.4M from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for Building Futures Together at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. The newly funded program will prepare 98 paraprofessionals in healthcare and school settings to provide specialized enhanced care coordination to children, youth, and their caregivers whose parents are impacted by opioid use disorders (OUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD).
8/7/2020
MN LEND Project Responds to Opioid Crisis
What can you do if your baby, or a loved one's baby, has neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)? How can a toddler's development be affected by NAS? Where can Minnesotans find support?
2/26/2020
Project SCOPE National Training Initiative Launches Initial Cohort
Project SCOPE launches with an initial eight University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities to address neonatal abstinence syndrome and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome.
2/19/2020
Indiana Pilot Program Combatting Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Shows Early Promise
Every 15 minutes a baby in the United States is born diagnoses with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). However, a new Indiana program targeted at improving outcomes for mothers struggling with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and their newborns is showing strong, early results. The program, named CHOICES, which assists mothers and is attempting to combat (NAS) has been showing promise since its inception in 2016.
3/28/2019
New Part D Policies Address Opioid Epidemic
The new Medicare Part D opioid policies encourage collaboration and care coordination among Medicare drug plans, pharmacies, prescribers, and patients, in order to improve opioid management, prevent opioid misuse, and promote safer prescribing practices. CMS continues to be committed to addressing the opioid crisis and helping our beneficiaries use prescription opioid pain medications more safely.
12/7/2018
AUCD'S UCEDD Resource Center Announces Awardee for Training Initiative Addressing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome for the National Network of UCEDDs
The Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) sought a lead UCEDD to build the capacity of the national network of UCEDDs to address the impact of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) through collaborative implementation of best and promising practices across federally-funded networks to support child, caregiver, and family outcomes in the local communities. Federally-funded networks include those funded by AIDD, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
8/9/2018
The US Opioid Crisis: Addressing Maternal and Infant Health
CDC released the first-ever multi-state analysis of trends in opioid use disorder (OUD) in labor and delivery. These data indicate the number of pregnant women with OUD at labor and delivery more than quadrupled from 1999 through 2014, with significant increases in every one of the 28 states with available data.
7/18/2018
The Opioid Crisis: A Child's Fight and a Mother's Gain
Robin Adams tells of the challenges and joys of adopting a baby affected by his birth mother's opioid use. The drug test came back positive for opioids and the needle puncture sites in the young, pregnant woman's arms were infected. At just 92 pounds, neither she nor her unborn child were benefiting from any nutritional intake. She returned to her OB/GYN six weeks later, keeping few prenatal appointments in total. When she returned, she was prepared; she had another person's urine in her purse. But she fooled no one, and her physician offered to help her find treatment and recommended a facility where she could receive medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and medical care. She denied her drug use and rejected the referral.
6/13/2018
NIH Leadership Outlines Interdisciplinary FY2018 Research Plan for HEAL Initiative
In a Viewpoint published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, National Institutes of Health leadership detail components of a newly released research plan for the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. The HEAL Initiative is a trans-NIH effort launched in April 2018 to advance national priorities in addressing the opioid crisis through science. With a focus on two primary areas - improving treatments for opioid misuse and addiction, and enhancing strategies for pain management - the plan describes a multifaceted program encompassing pre-clinical, clinical, drug repurposing, and community-based approaches.
5/30/2018
SAMHSA Announces $196 Million Funding Opportunity for Opioid Treatment Grants to Hardest-hit States and Tribes
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now accepting applications for $196 million to treat opioid use disorder through its Targeted Capacity Expansion: Medication Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug Opioid Addiction grant program.
3/29/2018
Wyoming Institute for Disabilites Launches New ECHO Network to Address Opioid Use in Wyoming (WY UCEDD)
Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, Wyoming's UCEDD at the University of Wyoming, launched a new ECHO integrated care network in February designed to address issues related to opioid use in Wyoming. UW ECHO in Behavioral Health is a collaboration with the Wyoming Department of Health and Mountain Plains Addiction Technology Transfer Center and brings together professionals from behavioral health, primary care, law enforcement as well as treatment and recovery providers, peer specialists and pharmacists. By sharing promising practices and evidenced-based care, the network provides participants with an opportunity to participate in an online professional community dedicated to preventing opiate addiction and fostering recovery.