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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Substance use and misuse

Culture and Self-Determination Provide Strength to Heal
Describes how the Seneca Nation of Indians has incorporated its culture into programs and community initiatives. Examples include school and adult Seneca language immersion programs, restoring indigenous plants, cultivating native animals, and the Seneca Strong program to address substance abuse by incorporating prevention and sobriety programming into traditional rites of passage, outdoor skills camps, and powwows. The Seneca Nation of Indians (New York) received the 2017 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Prize.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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Innovations in Rural Health System Development: Federally Qualified Health Center Initiatives
Reports on Maine's Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Discusses strategies for workforce recruitment and retention, serving high-need patient populations, addressing critical community needs, and providing services that address the social determinants of health. Provides various examples of programs from across the state.
Author(s): Sara Kahn-Troster, Amanda Burgess, Andrew Coburn
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Catherine Cutler Institute, Maine Health Access Foundation
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In Focus: Expanding Access to Addiction Treatment Through Primary Care
Discusses the lack of access to treatment for drug addiction and presents models for implementing medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for addiction, including one in a rural community health center. Looks at barriers to expanding MAT in primary care, as well as methods for overcoming those barriers.
Author(s): Martha Hostetter, Sarah Klein
Citation: Transforming Care: Reporting on Health System Improvement
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Tackling the Opioid Crisis in a Rural Community
Discusses a partnership between a rural hospital physician and the director of a community counseling center to establish a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction in rural Maine. Presents the program's support structure, as well as the advantages of having an integrated treatment approach.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Overdose Deaths, Hospital Visits and Unfilled Jobs: The Opioid Crisis in Missouri and Kansas
Reports on the opioid crisis in Missouri and Kansas. Shows maps of county-by-county data for opioid dependence risk, unemployment rate, drug-related mortality rate, opioid-related hospital utilization rate, and the morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per capita rate in both states.
Author(s): Mat Reidhead, Leslie Porth, Karen Braman
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
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Results from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables
Provides data on use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, trends in substance use disorder and mental health, and access to treatment for youth 12-17 and adults. Features statistics for a variety of demographic and geographic characteristics.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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Overdose Deaths Related to Fentanyl and Its Analogs — Ohio, January-February 2017
Reports findings from a study of 281 unintentional overdose fatalities in 25 Ohio counties from January-February 2017, checking for the presence of fentanyl analogs, opioids, and other drugs. Includes demographic and drug data by type of county, including data for rural and Appalachian counties.
Additional links: Errata
Author(s): Raminta Daniulaityte, Matthew P. Juhascik, Kraig E. Strayer, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 66(34), 904-908
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Spit It Out-West Virginia
Video highlighting the Spit it Out program, which serves six West Virginia Coal Country counties. Describes how the Southern Coalfields Tobacco Prevention Coalition Network partnered with mining companies to reduce tobacco use, particularly smokeless tobacco use.
Date: 08/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Heartache, Pain, and Hope: Rural Communities, Older People, and the Opioid Crisis: An Introduction for Funders
Provides an overview of the opioid crisis and its impact on the lives of older adults. Addresses both opioid use by older adults and addiction within older adults' families. Identifies solutions being implemented by governments, communities, healthcare providers, and funders to address these concerns. Includes policy recommendations.
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Grantmakers In Aging
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A Guide to Establishing Syringe Services Programs in Rural, At-Risk Areas
Describes the basics of syringe services programs, identifies the need for them in at-risk rural communities, and provides guidance on considerations when establishing programs. Includes examples of syringe services programs in Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, and North Carolina. Also covers information about syringe services-related regulations and laws in select locations.
Author(s): Regina La Belle
Date: 07/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Comer Family Foundation
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