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Rural Response to the Opioid Crisis – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Rural Response to the Opioid Crisis.

Pain in the Nation: The Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Crises and the Need for a National Resilience Strategy
Examines current trends, causes, costs, and potential solutions to the drug, alcohol, and suicide crises in the U.S. Includes rural data and discussion of rural-specific issues.
Author(s): Laura M. Segal, Anne De Biasi, Jennifer L. Mueller, Kendra May, Molly Warren
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Trust for America's Health
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The Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis: Perspectives from States, Communities, and Providers
Video recording details the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the opioid epidemic. Features testimony detailing efforts to combat opioid addiction from representatives of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry; the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals; the Wisconsin Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; and the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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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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Vital Signs: Changes in Opioid Prescribing in the United States, 2006-2015
Reports on opioid prescribing in the United States from 2006 to 2015. Includes data for metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore (rural) counties. Also offers maps showing county-level prescriptions per capita in 2015 and changes in prescriptions per capita from 2010 to 2015.
Author(s): Gery P. Guy Jr., Kun Zhang, Michele K. Bohm, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 66(26), 697-704
Date: 07/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Final Report: Opioid Use, Misuse, and Overdose in Women
Discusses the need for prevention, treatment and recovery programs for women who have opioid use disorders. Focuses on the increase in opioid use among the female population and ways to help manage and respond to the impact of overuse and overdose. Provides a summary of the September 2016 national meeting focus on opioid use in women. Includes information about how rural location affects use and treatment, particularly lack of access to care and overdose remedies.
Additional links: White Paper, December 2016
Date: 07/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health
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Promising Practice: Virginia SORH Taking Aim at Opioid Overdose
Illustrates how the Virginia State Office of Rural Health (VA SORH) and its partners are focusing their attention on the opioid epidemic in rural areas of the state by expanding treatment, and training lay rescuers to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose and administer naloxone when necessary.
Author(s): Beth Blevins
Date: 04/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Combatting the Opioid Epidemic with Provider and Public Education
Highlights from a conversation with Fred Wells Brason II, discussing community-based efforts to reduce opioid misuse and abuse in rural communities. Brason helped found Project Lazarus in Wilkes County, North Carolina, which reduced the overdose rate in Wilkes County by 72 percent over three years. The Project Lazarus model has since spread to more than 20 states and focuses on cross-sector collaboration, public and provider education, and increasing access to treatment.
Citation: Transforming Care: Reporting on Health System Improvement
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Prescription Opioid Poisoning Across Urban and Rural Areas: Identifying Vulnerable Groups and Geographic Areas
Examines hospital discharge rates for prescription opioid poisoning for rural and urban areas using data from 2001-2011 in California. Identifies hot-spot locations for opioid poisoning and environmental features related to opioid poisoning using a zip code level of analysis. Discusses the implications for policymakers and public health officials.
Author(s): Magdalena Cerda, Andrew Gaidus, Katherine M. Keyes, et al.
Citation: Addiction, 112(1), 103-112
Date: 01/2017
Type: Document
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A Community Partnership to Respond to the Heroin and Opioid Abuse Epidemic
Discusses the community response to heroin and opioid abuse in rural Carlton County, Minnesota. Details the county's collaboration with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and St. Louis County to form the Carlton County Drug Abuse Task Force.
Author(s): Laura C. Palombi, Joe Vargo, Laura Bennett, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 33(1), 110-113
Date: 01/2017
Type: Document
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Addiction Recovery Mobile Outreach Team (ARMOT)
Video featuring the Addition Recovery Mobile Outreach Team (ARMOT), a rural Pennsylvania program that helps people access substance abuse treatment. ARMOT staff meet with patients to discuss treatment options and with patients' families to provide education and support.
Date: 01/2017
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Last Updated: 5/30/2024