The Office of Opioid Safety will focus on identifying patients at risk of addiction, and connecting them with resources for education, treatment, and pain management. Dr. Joan Papp, director of the new office, says the center will aim to gather opioid addiction tools and resources in one place.
"The office of opioid safety will be an umbrella for the coordinated activities of safe opioid prescribing, advocacy, and community engagement in our hospital system," said Papp. "So while many great things are going on in the community, and going on in different departments throughout the hospital system, what we wanted to do was bring all those things together under one roof.”
Papp notes that the Office will also focus on ways to prevent opioid addiction by educating patients on safe use, storage, and disposal of pills. Last year, a report identified Ohio as number one in the country for opioid overdose deaths.