Holly Fletcher May 11, 2017 Rural parts of Tennessee have been hit hard by a nationwide rise in Hepatitis C infections in pregnant women, likely a result of the opioid abuse epidemic, according to new study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Tennessee Department of Health. The presence of Hepatitis C at birth increased 89 […]
How a Tennessee OB-GYN turned into an addiction specialist for pregnant women
Anita Wadhwani May 6, 2017 SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Dr. Jennifer Maddron was drawn to obstetrics in her third year of medical school after she witnessed her first delivery. Guided by her Christian faith, it became a calling, she said. But a few years after setting up her practice, just a few miles from the Smoky […]
Stopping the opioid crisis in the womb
Wayne Drash May 5, 2017 Knoxville, Tennessee (CNN) – The sound of a heartbeat pulsates through the air, and a grainy image of a baby flashes on screen. Jessica Hill smiles from her chair in the ultrasound room. Gathered around are her doctor, nurse and best friend. They are all eager, anxious, excited — and worried […]
Highway patrol gets naloxone under BCBST grant
Holly Fletcher May 2, 2017 More than 2,800 naloxone kits, the temporary antidote to opioid overdose, will be distributed to a variety of agencies statewide in an effort to get more kits of the drug into the hands of law enforcement and first responders. The Tennessee High Patrol will be receiving 900 kits, and every state […]
How to fight opioid abuse by trashing old medicine
Adam Tamburin April 27, 2017 Middle Tennesseans will get a chance to unload their old prescriptions Saturday when pharmacies across the area participate in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The bi-annual event, which is supported by the Drug Enforcement Administration nationally and the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation, has taken on added significance […]
Tennessee To Receive $13.8 Million Aimed At Prescription Opioid Crisis
April 25, 2017 U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D. has announced that the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will be awarded $13.8 million through the 21st Century Cures Act to help combat the prescription opioid epidemic in Tennessee. This is the largest single federal funding increase for opioid […]
Dispose of unused medications at take-back event
Greg James, M.D. April 22, 2017 Every day, we see the impact of opioid abuse in our hospitals throughout Middle Tennessee. We see it when overdose victims are brought to our emergency rooms. We see it in physicians’ offices when patients struggling with addiction ask for help. We see it on the faces of parents […]
How Do Former Opioid Addicts Safely Get Pain Relief After Surgery?
Nashville Public Radio April 20, 2017 Nearly 1.5 million Americans were treated for addiction to prescription opioids or heroin in 2015, according to federal estimates, and when those people get seriously hurt or need surgery, it’s often not clear, even to many doctors, how to safely manage their pain. For some former addicts, what begins […]
The ONE Item You Need to Get Rid of This Month!
StyleBlueprint How many times have you been prescribed pain medication to help you heal after an injury or surgery? And if so, we bet you probably felt better before you even finished the prescription, which left you with a half-finished bottle of pills that’s likely been collecting dust in the back of your medicine cabinet. […]
Program aims to meet addicts’ health needs long term
Kristi L. Nelson April 19, 2017 As early as 2010, they began to see the signs of the coming epidemic. Patients came in for primary care with needle tracks on their arms and full-blown cases of undiagnosed hepatitis C. Pregnant women waited until well into their third trimester to seek prenatal care — afraid to […]
