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St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said the opioid epidemic in the county was a public health emergency and approved a plan to get public health officials to work with other organizations to fight the addiction crisis.
The Stenger declaration signed Thursday at the Department of Public Health in Berkeley approved a plan of action that includes county health officials and other organizations, including the Department of Justice Services County and the Missouri Hospital Association.
It aims to increase public access to naloxone, an overdose drug, to strengthen prevention education and improve access to treatment for high-risk populations such as the uninsured
A problem of direct and immediate relevance to the health of the public who needs more resources [and] requires a regional effort redoubled and refocused on everything that happens Faisal Khan, director of county health, said Thursday.
million. Stenger plans to ask St. Louis County Council $ 1.5 million in the next budget to help fund the goals.
Opioid deaths in St. Louis County have nearly doubled, reaching 203 in the past five years, according to county authorities. Many who died had taken the potent synthetic medicine, fentanyl.
Up to this year, there have been more than 85 opioid-related overdose deaths in St. Louis County.
The emergency declaration was a way to get several agencies to join a comprehensive plan to solve the problem, Khan said.
"A large number of people and organizations are doing work to combat the epidemic of opioids and addiction-related disorders, but in a piecemeal way, that's very alone, "he said. For example, to improve access to treatment, county public health officials will begin offering drug-assisted treatments in their clinics and begin integrating them into existing health centers. »
services.
Getting the department to offer drug treatment, including maintenance treatments such as methadone and buprenorphine, took a long time, said Khan. Physicians consider it to be the most effective form of treatment for substance use disorders, but drug treatments have always been politically unpopular.
The new plan supports it as well as several harm reduction initiatives such as the search for a needle service program that would distribute clean needles to addicts to stop the spread of diseases such as as hepatitis and HIV.
According to Khan, one in five of the full-time health department staff is trained to dispense drugs against drug addiction, but he said he hopes that this number will increase next year .
The county plan also includes research and examination of best treatment practices and seeking funding for services, such as who runs the county's health and justice departments to find the best health care services. money and help.
"We are not the federal government," Stenger said, citing the county's limited resources to fund the health budget.
"I'm going to tell you that it's probably not enough, but from a local level, that's what it's got, and it's actually a very big demand for our budget, "he said.
Stenger said the county's prescription drug monitoring system is funded by federal funds.
The report does not mention the opiate task force created by the county council earlier this week. This council created the working group to make its own recommendations. It is not clear if the board will go ahead with its own recommendations after the publication of Thursday's plan.
"I do not think the county council was aware of all the work that was going on," Stenger said. "One of the things the task force was going to want to produce was probably a plan very similar to this one."
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