Page 16 - Andrae Bailey News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Employers ‘have to make it okay for people to ask for help,’ says casual dining exec Businesses can play an important role in helping people overcome opioid addiction, Red Lobster CEO Kim Lopdrup said Thursday in an online presentation hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The Orlando, Fla.-based chain seeks to create awareness among its workers around the topic of opioid addiction, remove the stigma attached to seeking help, and offer free counseling to those who need it, he said. Addiction to opioids, which often begins with the use of prescription drugs to treat pain...

Neighboring counties to Citrus saw similar overdose trends. Marion County saw a 106% increase from 31 cases to 64 cases during the March-June time frame; Hernando County’s overdose deaths increased from nine to 28, a 211% increase. Data for other neighboring counties was not available in the report. For the 2020 year to date, Citrus County reported 56 overdoses, up 107% from 27 in 2019, according to the report. That gave Citrus County an overdose rate of 37.42 per 100,000 residents, leaving Citrus with the sixth highest overdose rate in Florida. Citrus County’s use of Naloxone, ofte...

The COVID-19 quarantines earlier this year hit those struggling with addiction in Marion County hard, according to a recently released study of overdose deaths in Florida. Between March and June, 64 people died of drug overdoses in Marion, an increase of more than 100% over the same period in 2019, when 31 people died, according to the study released by the Orlando-based Project Opioid. It was a similar case across Florida, where many counties saw sharp increases in overdose deaths during the quarantine period. Project Opioid used numbers from the Florida Department of Health for the stud...

At the same time, Florida showed a 43% increase in overdose deaths, with 3,606 fatalities. “What we’re seeing is an epidemic collide with a pandemic, with tragic consequences,” said Andrae Bailey, founder and CEO of Project Opioid. “2020 has now kind of taken this crisis to a whole other level. Like many things in our society, we’ve seen the virus impact us in ways we never really expected."  Local health leaders say increased isolation and anxiety caused by the virus likely aggravated mental health and substance abuse problems.  “One of the things that happens in this pandemic...