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The
report by SIU Medicine says while every area of the state faces
opioid misuse, overdose deaths are a significant issue in rural
counties.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, nine of
the 20 Illinois counties with the highest opioid fatality rate
are in rural areas.
“We have seen this opioid crisis unfold in stages and no doubt
the rural parts of this state and this country have been
tremendously negatively impacted,” said Illinois State Police
Director Brendan Kelly during a recent rural health summit.
Kelly said education, treatment and enforcement are a
three-legged stool that helps, but there is often no connection
to social work or medical treatment.
Harrisburg physician Dr. Brent Jones said prescribing
painkillers has always been a risky proposition.
“Over the years you had this dichotomy of trying to help people
do well with their pain, trying to work their jobs, take care of
their families and trying to live their lives,” said Jones. “In
the midst of that, we know 20% of those people who have exposure
to narcotics are going to become an addictive person.”
The group's recommendations included increasing the availability
of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder centers, engage
justice-involved populations to reduce opioid-use disorder, and
expand harm reduction services into rural areas to prevent
overdoses and the spread of infectious diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control announced Wednesday more than
100,000 people died of drug overdoses in the country during a
12-month period ending this past April, with opioids being the
driving cause.
That is a new record high, with overdose deaths jumping over 28%
from the same period a year earlier and nearly doubling over the
past five years.
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