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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2017)
Fight for Benson Supporters rally to save school sports See Local News, page 3 ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVI • Number 27 Connecting to the River Canoe paddles focus on the environment See Metro, page 9 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • July 5, 2017 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Photo by Z aChary S enn /t he P ortland o bServer O’Nesha Cochran prepares for her shift as a peer-recovery counselor to those suffering from opioid addiction at the Oregon Health and Science University’s Marquam Hill campus in southwest Portland. On the Front Lines Peer-recovery counselors battle opioid epidemic by Z aChary S enn t he P ortland o bServer A unique, collaborative approach to addiction care at Oregon Health and Science University is helping to tackle the opioid epidemic. As the struggle against heroine and the abuse of pre- scription opiates continues to escalate across America, Northwestern states such as Oregon, Washington and Alaska have been hit especially hard by drug overdose deaths and related hospitalizations. Dr. Honora Englander, who serves as an associate pro- fessor of medicine at OHSU, first began to notice the in- flux of hospitalizations caused by complications from opi- oid addiction while working in the school’s hospital. More patients, for example, were being hospitalized after ex- periencing an overdose, being diagnosed with Substance Abuse Disorder, or from contracting a blood or bone infec- tion from using impure substances or improperly sterilized equipment “As a health system and hospital, we were very well positioned to manage people’s medical needs and surgical needs,” Englander told the Portland Observer, “But really did not have any systems to support their addiction needs.” By assessing the unique needs presented by the opioid epidemic in the Portland area, Englander and her col- leagues developed the framework for what is now the Im- proving Addiction Care Team, or Project IMPACT. The C ontinued on P age 4
