Arizona declares opioid crisis a public-health emergency
Gov. Doug Ducey has declared a public-health emergency to improve the state’s efforts to counter the ongoing opioid crisis. Last year 790 Arizona residents died due to opioid overdoses.
“The declaration will soon require hospitals, doctors and other health providers to more frequently update state health officials on overdose deaths and opioid-related encounters. It also is designed to expand distribution of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone to law enforcement statewide, particularly in communities with clusters of overdose deaths or near-deaths.”
The actions also aims to improve the guidelines for prescribing opioids and expanding access to treatment.
“Ducey’s administration and the Arizona Legislature have taken steps to curtail the epidemic. Those actions include limiting initial opioid prescriptions to seven days for adults insured by Medicaid or the state’s insurance plan and legislation allowing pharmacies to dispense the overdose-reversal drug naloxone without a prescription.”
With these ongoing efforts to fix this epidemic, we urge you to always seek help. On average people visit the emergency room three times before a fatal overdose. Those three instances were missed opportunities for those people to get help.
To read the full article, check out; https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/health/2017/06/05/arizona-declares-opioid-crisis-public-health-emergency/371208001/
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