According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths in the U.S., which totaled 70,236 in 2017. Of those, 47,600—or 67.8 percent of the total—involved opioids.

Within the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), the Touro College of Pharmacy (TCOP) and the School of Health Sciences (SHS), a range of program offerings have been developed to help ease the crisis and prepare future healthcare professionals, who will be on the front lines of treating and preventing addiction. This effort involves specialized training for working with addicted patient populations, learning about community outreach programs that encourage healthy practices around opioid use and safety and the training of health professionals in alternative therapies for pain mitigation.

Social Workers on the Front Lines

In 2019, Touro College and its Graduate School of Social Work secured two grants totaling $1.36 million to train students, faculty and staff in fighting the nation’s opioid crisis.

A $1.3 million award from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the larger of the two awards, is part of the department’s new, three-year “Federal Opioid Workforce Expansion Program” and is shared with Touro’s School of Health Sciences’ Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program (CMHC). The second and smaller of the two awards of $60,000 is funded by the National Council for Behavioral Health, a not-for-profit group of over 3,000 member organizations that help millions with mental illness and addictions. The funds will be directed toward a new 20-month program entitled, “Social Workers on the Front Line of the Opioid Epidemic Learning Collaborative.”

Touro is one of the select schools in the U.S. and in New York State to participate in the $57.4 million HRSA grant. Eligible students chosen for the program will take specialized courses and work with medically underserved populations in communities throughout NYC.

Rethinking Addiction

Although many students enter GSSW believing that they will be treating clients with problems that lie outside of addiction, such as marital issues, work issues, anxiety and others, this isn’t always the case. According to Dr. Steven Krantz, associate professor of Clinical Social Work at GSSW, their work will inevitably bring them face-to-face with addiction. “Chemical dependence issues impact all ethnic and economic groups and are touching many aspects of family and professional life.”

“Current thinking among experts in the field,” explains Professor Krantz, “which reflects a big change in the approach to addiction, is that we stopped differentiating alcohol from other drugs. Now they are all treated the same and our teaching at Touro reflects this.”

At Touro, students are taught ways to uncover a client’s connection to their chemical or chemicals of choice and to think about the client in these terms. Explains Professor Krantz, “We want them to ask, ‘What is your relationship with the chemical and how does it impact your life?’” In assisting a client, effective intervention often requires helping them to create a daily or near-daily program of recovery, including connecting to rehabilitation centers, day programs, intense outpatient programs or ones that specialize in immersing someone in interventional support, including self-help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Pharmacy Students and Community Outreach

In the Touro College of Pharmacy, there is a robust curriculum covering opioid treatments, their side effects, how to recognize addiction/abuse and ways to reverse the effects of these medications. Several student organizations are working on developing and implementing risk mitigation and harm reduction campaigns.

Connecting with Patients

For most people, their local pharmacist is the healthcare provider they see most regularly, feel the most comfortable with and the one that is the most available. Part of the training of pharmacy students is preparing them for this role and understanding that the various programs available through pharmacies and communities may save a life or help someone to enter treatment.

Needle Exchange Programs

At TCOP, students learn about needle exchange programs, which have been developed as a way for people who use injectable drugs to obtain clean needles and dispose of used needles safely. These programs do not increase illegal drug use or crime, and can help to curb the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other bloodborne illnesses. At needle exchange sites, often located in pharmacies, adults can purchase a limited quantity of clean needles. “By providing additional access to sterile syringes, we can help protect people from bloodborne illnesses and ultimately prevent deaths,” explains Dr. Rebecca K. Kavanagh, assistant professor of ambulatory care. According to the CDC, research shows that people who use injection drugs who have access to needle/syringe exchange programs are five times more likely to enter treatment and abstain from illicit drug use than those who don’t.

Drug Take-Back Events

Students also learn about and participate in drug take-back events, where expired, unwanted, or unused prescription drugs are collected for proper disposal. These programs are part of an anonymous, no-questions-asked national effort to curb drug abuse and safely dispose of unneeded medicine. During such events, members of a local community are encouraged to drop off their unused drugs so they can be properly incinerated. “These events help to minimize the availability of leftover drugs that someone could potentially abuse,” explains Dr. Kavanagh.

Naloxone Kit Distribution

A key part of the community outreach effort is reversing the effects of an overdose before it takes a life. TCOP students are trained in ways to respond to patients and family members living with opioid abuse, such as encouraging calls to 911 if they, or their loved one, find themselves in trouble, offering information about drug rehabilitation and furnishing naloxone injection kits, a life-saving emergency treatment for opioid overdose.