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SOARâs program is the only one in the region known to meet the best practice standards, even while the group is not certified by the state for needle distribution. This lack of certification â which, per state code, is not necessary to operate a syringe program at any level â has served as grounds for some City Council membersâ current attempt to recriminalize such distribution in the city.
File photo | The Associated Press
By CAITY COYNE
HD Media Feb 22, 2021
Dr. Carl V. Hill
COVID-19 has laid bare some undesirable truths: underserved communities are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. In the field of Alzheimer’s and dementia, statistics point to a similarly troubling trend.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, for instance, African Americans are about twice as likely as whites to have Alzheimer’s or another dementia and Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely to have Alzheimer’s. Additionally, African Americans are more prone to risk factors for vascular disease like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol which may also be risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and stroke-related dementia.
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SOARâs program is the only one in the region known to meet the best practice standards, even while the group is not certified by the state for needle distribution. This lack of certification â which, per state code, is not necessary to operate a syringe program at any level â has served as grounds for some City Council membersâ current attempt to recriminalize such distribution in the city.
File photo | The Associated Press
By CAITY COYNE
HD Media Feb 17, 2021
Many Americans stayed away from the emergency room when the nation went under lockdown for fear of contracting COVID-19 at the hospital. While this led to an overall decline in emergency department visits, a recent study shows weekly trips to the ER for drug overdoses were higher in 2020 than in 2019.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied more than 180 million ER visits from Dec. 30, 2018, to Oct. 10, 2020, and found that weekly counts of all drug overdoses were up to 45% higher in 2020 than in 2019, according to the study published Feb. 3 in the peer-reviewed JAMA Psychiatry. Opioid overdoses, specifically, increased about 29% compared with before the pandemic.
Dr. Owen Lander, medical director of the West Virginia University Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital Emergency Department, said he has seen an increase in relapses in his emergency room as people with a long period of abstinence don’t recognize their tolerance is much lower.
He speculated that more relapses happened as the pandemic temporarily shut down treatment centers, clinics and other resources. Although numerous doctor s offices relied on telemedicine to resume daily functions, Lander said many people who struggle with substance use disorders don’t have access to that technology.
“A lot of these folks don’t have access to telemedicine infrastructure,” he said. “A large part of their recovery efforts has relied on face-to-face connection with a therapist or support group, and that lack of face-to-face is a real challenge.”