PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Board of Health should tap the knowledge of other advisory panels as it looks for ways to help fight the opioid epidemic, it was suggested this week.
Vice Chairman Don Lawley said the Board of Health should bring the multi-disciplinary Chemical Dependency/Mental Health Program Fund Advisory Board to the table.
“We don’t want to run parallel paths,” Lawley said at the Tuesday health board meeting.
County Health and Human Services Director Andy Brastad said the Homelessness Task Force would be another good resource in the multi-layered response to the opioid epidemic.
“We have two really tremendous groups with a lot of representation and a lot of expertise that we haven’t really utilized,” Brastad said.
Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias agreed that the Board of Health should “take better advantage” of existing boards and committees that deal with those addicted to heroin or opioid-based prescription pills.
The opioid epidemic has been a major focus of the Clallam County Board of Health in recent years.
“Maybe we can have some follow-up conversations over the next couple of weeks about how we could effectively engage those existing groups to help think through and provide that structure,” Ozias said.
Last week, Ozias and Port Angeles Mayor Patrick Downie convened a roundtable that focused on a community opioid epidemic response plan.
About three dozen professionals, including treatment providers, elected officials and law enforcement personnel, attended the event to share information and consolidate efforts.
“We wanted to make an attempt to make sure that everyone understands or has a common understanding of where we’re at,” Ozias told his fellow health board members.
“We also wanted to create opportunities for folks to hear from each other who are engaged in different ways and try and better understand if there are gaps, or if there are particular areas where elected officials can and should be focusing to help better support all the providers in this arena.”
Speakers at the roundtable included Dr. Christopher Frank, Clallam County health officer, and Anders Edgerton, Salish Behavioral Health Organization regional administrator.
The Salish Behavioral Health Organization replaced the Peninsula Regional Support Network when it was formed last April. It covers Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
The three-county Olympic Community of Health hosted an opioid summit in Kingston on Jan. 30, drawing an estimated 300 professionals.
Frank said the March 14 roundtable included West End representatives who were unable to attend the summit.
“I think having their participation,” Frank said, “puts them in a much better position of knowing what’s going on and being able to position themselves in a way where they’re competitive or could join with someone who’s competitive for funding.”
Local, regional and state officials share three main priorities in their respective opioid response plans, Frank said.
The common priority areas are:
• Improve prescription practices to reduce the number of those who become addicted to heroin or opioid painkillers.
• Expand treatment options and support for those who are already addicted.
• Prevent overdose deaths through the expansion of treatment and distribution of naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote.
Clallam County was listed as having one of the highest opioid-related overdose death rates in the state at 14.6 per 100,000 in 2011-15 state Department of Health statistics.
The statewide opioid-related death rate for the same period was 9.8 per 100,000.
“This is clearly a community health issue,” Ozias said.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, and in essence, we’re at the point right now where we’ve made that first effort to get folks around the table. We need to put some structure; we need to figure out how to carry the work forward.”
Frank noted a theme that emerged from the March 14 roundtable: the correlation between opioid addiction and a lack of affordable housing.
“It was a problem for law enforcement,” Frank said.
“It was a problem for the treatment community. It was a problem for really many, many sectors that were struggling.
“They felt like when they were making progress, their progress in whatever their realm was was thwarted when they then tried to get someone to take a step on their own and they had nowhere to go.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
