PORT TOWNSEND — The Salish Behavioral Health Organization has earmarked close to $50,000 to train Jefferson Healthcare providers in medicine-assisted treatment for people addicted to opioids.
The proposal was written in order to train 15 providers at Jefferson Healthcare, which serves a county that has lacked many medicine-assisted treatment options.
“We are excited about the opportunities this grant provides,” said Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glen. “The ability to offer additional training for our providers is huge and will impact our community significantly. Opioid addiction is a significant problem in our nation, and I am glad we are working toward solutions to assist our community members.”
The SBHO executive board — made up of county commissioners from Jefferson, Clallam and Kitsap counties — voted April 20 to set aside close to $50,000 from SBHO’s reserves for training Jefferson Healthcare providers, said Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias.
The goal, he said, is to “finally create some capacity for [medicine-assisted treatment] in Jefferson County.”
Efforts to reach Jefferson County Commissioner Kathleen Kler, who also sits on the board, were unsuccessful.
Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke said there is “definitely” a need for more providers offering medicine-assisted treatment in Jefferson County.
Between 2011 and 2015 there were eight opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 people in Jefferson County, lower than the state’s average rate of 9.8 per 100,000 people, according to the state Department of Health.
The opioid epidemic hasn’t hit Jefferson County as hard as it has hit Clallam County, which had a rate of 14.6 opioid overdose deaths per 100,000, but Locke said there have been few options in Jefferson County for those seeking treatment.
He said the focus would be on using Suboxone, a drug that also contains naloxone and is used to help people with opioid use disorder stabilize their lives.
It is a partial agonist, meaning it fulfills the physical craving for opioids but doesn’t produce the same high. Naloxone counteracts opioid overdoses and helps prevent people from abusing Suboxone.
In 2016 there were only four providers who had waivers to prescribe buprenorphine, one of the active ingredients in Suboxone. Locke said he knew of three providers currently: one at Jefferson Healthcare and two in private practice.
Jefferson Healthcare hasn’t yet identified which providers would receive the training, according to the hospital.
Locke said one of the benefits of the training is that treatment for opioid addiction can be merged with primary care.
“Often people who need treatment for opioid use disorder need what we call a ‘medical home’ where they can get the whole range of services,” he said. “We promote the model of doing this within family practices rather than at free-standing clinics.”
Locke, who has been prescribing Suboxone for close to four years out of the Jamestown Family Health Clinic in Sequim said Suboxone, which is often paired with counseling, is “a remarkably effective treatment when it’s done right.”
“Opioid use disorder is a very treatable medical condition,” he said. “We know how to treat it, we know how to help people get their lives back on track, we just have to build up the system so everyone who wants treatment has it available.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
