Health

Opioids: Turning the Tide in the Crisis

00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69e980000Day after day, week after week, the headlines in Northeast Ohio and across much of the country contain news of tragic loss: lives lost to opioids. It’s a problem that knows no bounds: geography, race, gender, level of education or income.The problem took on new urgency this summer as the powerful elephant sedative, Carfentanil, began hitting the streets. First responders armed with their only weapon, the overdose antidote Naloxone, have struggled to keep up with what’s become an overwhelming problem. It’s an issue that’s straining public and social resources. What has become clear is that business as usual is not going to fix the problem.WKSU news has been covering the unfolding crisis. Tuesdays during Morning Edition, the WKSU news team digs even deeper. WKSU reporters will examine what’s led us here and what might be done to turn the tide. Support for Opioids: Turning the Tide in the Crisis comes from Wayne Savings Community Bank, Kent State University Office of Continuing and Distance Education, Hometown Grocery Delivery, Mercy Medical Center, AxessPointe Community Health Center, Community Support Services, Inc., Medina County District Library and Hudson Community First.00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69e980001

Akron Children's Hospital Launches Addiction Treatment Program

Ideastream Public Media | By Kabir Bhatia

Published June 7, 2018 at 10:22 PM EDT

photo of Michelle Bestic, Lea Heidman, Brian Malone, Dr. Sarah Friebert — Clinical pharmacologist/toxicologist Michelle Bestic (left), is joined by Lea Heidman, Brian Malone, and Dr. Sarah Friebert. Lea and Brian, who lost their daughter, Alyssa, at age 21 to a heroin overdose, were the first to donate money to for the program.

Akron Children’s Hospital is starting a new addiction treatment program, which will centralize many of its services that assist young people with substance-abuse issues.

The program’s start-up is being funded by $800,000 in donations, including $300,000 from a family who lost their 21-year-old daughter to opioid addiction.

Michelle Bestic is a clinical pharmacologist at Akron Children’s, and says their initial focus has been on education and prevention. She says they hope to begin studying the effects of addiction on newborns.

That includes "a component to really help the mothers that have babies that are born with physical dependence on certain substances. And (to) follow those kids long-term to see what kind of risk factors they have in the future so we don’t see a second generation of an opioid crisis.”

Bestic says the hospital is currently working with doctors to look into non-opioid pain-relief options, and in the future the program could include a medication-assisted outpatient treatment center.