Tagged With "heroin addiction"

The reach of substance use disorders in America is far more significant than people think. 21+ million Americans struggle with substance use disorders. Their substance use and addiction-related behaviors impact 100 million more Americans. These are the moms, dads, husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, grandchildren.... Together, these two groups represents more than one-third of the American population!

Paul Palmer is part of Sober Circle at the Mary Isaak Center (Photo by Beth Shankler) ____________________________ At this time last year, Paul Palmer was going on seven years of being homeless. A methamphetamine addict living along the Petaluma River, he had been in and out of rehab a few times, but it never seemed to work. He mostly kept to himself, staying out of the way of police officers and other homeless people, burrowed deep into the bushes along the river bank on the north side of...

Key provisions that are closely aligned with sections the Heitkamp-Durbin “Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774)” are included in opioid legislation that is advancing in the U.S. Senate. A draft bill, “The Opioid Crisis Response Act,” is the subject of a hearing on Wednesday, April 11 in the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee and a mark-up of the legislation is expected over the next several weeks. Senator Heitkamp’s office highlighted three...

New reports, recently released: The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) is a statewide, in-depth examination of deaths while pregnant or within one year after end of pregnancy, which aims to identify the cause and timing of death, factors that contributed to the death, and improvement opportunities in maternity care and support, with the ultimate goal to reduce preventable deaths and associated health disparities. CA-PAMR is a collaborative effort between the Maternal,...

California’s Central Valley stretches from Bakersfield in the south to Redding in the north. The Valley encompasses a great deal of the state’s interior, and includes major cities including Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Visalia and Bakersfield. Though it is not as densely populated as the major cities of California, the valley’s substance abuse and addiction rates are well above those in the metropolitan areas. Drugs are Abundant in California’s Central Valley Though much of Central Valley...

California counties support vulnerable children and families. Children with Special Health Care Needs Defined as “ Those who have one or more chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional conditions and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally " More than one million children in California have a special health care need, and many of these children and families face severe challenges. Health care and other support...

By Manuela Tobias, The Fresno Bee, October 16, 2019 Gina Diaz-Nino considers herself an extrovert. But since her mouth began deteriorating after years of methamphetamine use and two fights, she receded into the shadows. Her teeth are yellow, crooked and browning around the corners. Most of her top teeth are either chipped, missing or decaying. When they fell out, they crumbled like chalk. “I’ll open my mouth and oh — drug addict,” Diaz-Nino said. “It’s there. It’s like a past that you’re...

Thanks for the post, Cheryl. Has Elevate Addiction Services integrated trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science? If so, I'd love to hear more about that.

I can't make the meeting on May 1 but the attached chapter has information starting in p211 that shows the profound effect that skillful asking about ACEs has on subsequent medical care. The implications for the MediCal budget are in the multi-billion dollar range.

It is not clear to me what the $29. is for and who will be billed by whom. Having done this with 440,000 adults over a multi-year period, I would like to suggest that the State create a truly comprehensive medical history questionnaire posted on the Internet and that includes the ACE Questions. This would be free and people would list their names after disconnecting, ensuring their privacy. The output printed at home would consist of an iteration of all Yes answers, organized by body system.