Sen. Durbin visits Good Samaritan Hospital for panel on opioid use
DOWNERS GROVE - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and a group of fellow panelists discussed opioid abuse at a roundtable discussion at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital on May 26.
Durbin and community experts spoke at length about the opioid crisis in the Chicago suburbs and possible impacts coming from changes in federal funding to programs that address it.
Durbin was joined on the May 26 panel by Matthew Cross, director of behavioral health services at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital; Karen Ayala, executive director at the DuPage County Health Department; Jim Scarpace, executive director of the Gateway Foundation in Aurora; and Dr. Aaron Weiner, director of addiction services at Linden Oaks Behavioral Health
"There's been a transformation in thinking about addiction, thank goodness," Durbin said. "It really has come to the point now where it isn't 'Just say no,' it isn't a moral failure, it's an addiction that needs to be treated. Now we realize that substance abuse treatment is essential."
The panelists each discussed their organization's role in treating those who were in various stages of the opioid addiction recovery process.
Advocate Good Samaritan runs the only medical unit in the region solely dedicated to substance abuse detox, with 12 semi-private and private rooms. Prior to and following discharge, staff members connect patients with a treatment facility.
The number of opioid cases at Advocate Good Samaritan has skyrocketed in recent years, going from 360 in 2014 to 815 in 2016.
Similarly, the number of opioid overdose deaths in DuPage County have risen, with 78 in 2016, a 53 percent increase over 2015.
"We're trying some innovative strategies and outside the box thinking, but really for us to treat these patients and serve our mission, we need a community effort to try and fix this problem," Cross said.
Members of the panel said they were concerned about possible changes to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion and the federal budget, which includes $130 million in cuts to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grants for prevention and treatment. Cross said most patients who are treated in the hospital's detox program are on some form of Medicaid.
Durbin promised he would fight against the cuts amid the "most devastating drug abuse epidemic in our history," and support the vulnerable populations and providers that serve them.
"Decisions are being made in Washington that effect everything we've been talking about," he told those at the panel. "You've got to decide how important these decisions are to you and express your point of view."