DUBLIN, Ohio, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cardinal
Health Foundation today announced that it has awarded over
$3 million in grants to more than 70
nonprofit organizations to support local efforts to combat the
opioid epidemic across Ohio,
West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The grants are being made through
the Cardinal Health Foundation's Generation Rx program and are
funded by Cardinal Health's Opioid Action Program, launched last
fall.
Grants were awarded in the following categories:
- Prevention education: To expand medication safety
education for thousands of students in K-12 schools and
universities, using Generation Rx educational materials.
- Best practices in pain medication use: To support
healthcare organizations as they work with prescribers to transform
the way they help patients manage chronic, non-cancer pain, with
fewer opioids prescribed.
- Community-level responses: To support multi-sector
collaborative work to reduce opioid addiction, overdoses and
opioid-related deaths in eight communities in Ohio, home to Cardinal Health's headquarters
and nearly 7,000 employees.
"Thanks to a multi-million-dollar investment in the Foundation
through Cardinal Health's Opioid Action Program, we are able to
support many more organizations as they work to reduce the rate of
opioid misuse and addiction in their communities," said
Jessie Cannon, vice president of
Community Relations at Cardinal Health.
The Opioid Action Program is a multi-prong initiative to help
communities in four of the nation's hardest-hit states fight the
opioid epidemic. Each element of the program is cited by leading
experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
(NASEM) and the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction
and the Opioid Crisis, as critical to reducing opioid misuse, abuse
and addiction. The Opioid Action Program builds on Generation Rx,
created through a partnership with the Cardinal Health Foundation
and The Ohio State University College
of Pharmacy to raise awareness and knowledge about the dangers of
prescription drug misuse.
Grantees will participate in learning collaboratives led by
subject matter experts, who will help guide their work and share
best practices:
- Faculty and staff from The Ohio State
University Colleges of Pharmacy and Social Work will provide
medication safety education expertise and program evaluation to
prevention education grantees, and CompDrug's Youth to Youth
International will provide expertise in effective youth-led
prevention;
- Pharmacists with expertise in pain management from Geisinger
Health will guide those working on best practices in pain
medication use; and
- Community-level response grantees will be led by LEAD, a
nonprofit organization focused on prevention and community
collaboration.
"All of the organizations selected for funding share our goal of
turning the tide on the opioid epidemic," Cannon stated.
"Ultimately, we expect our grantees to learn from each other—and we
will learn from them. As they develop best practices, our goal is
to spread this work throughout the country, and foster solutions to
this complex public health crisis."
Donnie Poston, Prevention
Coordinator at Community Health of East
Tennessee, Campbell County,
Tenn., said, "We've been hit hard here: In 2015, we were
third in the entire country in terms of the most opioids prescribed
per person. Nearly a quarter of our population lives in poverty.
There is a lot of drug misuse and addiction here; educating our
kids is critical to helping the next generation avoid misuse. The
Cardinal Health Foundation grant will allow us to maintain one of
the few prevention education programs in the county. We will
educate hundreds of students and their parents about the risks of
misusing medication and about making safe choices."
Ken Wilson, MD, System Vice
President for Quality and Physician Leadership Development at
Norton Medical Group – Norton Healthcare, Louisville, Ky., said "We've been
working on changing opioid prescribing practices throughout our
health system since 2016, and have seen a steady decline in the
number of prescriptions our clinicians write, as well as in the
strength and number of dosages they write for. With this grant, we
will take the next step: Better engaging acute and chronic pain
patients across the care continuum, educating patients on pain
self-management, and educating providers about complementary and
alternative pain management strategies. We'll also accelerate
the difficult task of helping chronic pain patients in our primary
care practices convert from opioid pain management to alternative
strategies."
Steven J. Martin, PharmD and
Dean of the Rudolph H. Raabe College of Pharmacy at Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio, said, "The community-level
response grant allows us to expand our Mobile Health Clinic into a
broader, medically underserved area. Through this project, we will
train student healthcare professionals to provide risk assessment
and intervention for individuals at risk for substance abuse, and
work with multi-disciplinary teams to find alternatives to opioids.
These healthcare students will go on to careers in which that
training will be amplified across the state."
2018 grant recipients
Prescription drug misuse prevention education for
youth
- ASAP of Anderson, Clinton, TN
- Awake to a Safe and Healthy Community, Whitehouse, OH
- Bellaire Local Schools/Student Services, Bellaire, OH
- Bellefaire JCB, Shaker Heights,
OH
- Bloom-Vernon Elementary PTO, South
Webster, OH
- Boys & Girls Clubs in Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
- Cabell County Schools,
Huntington, WV
- Centerstone Kentucky, Louisville,
KY
- Children, Inc., Covington,
KY
- Coalition for a Drug Free Clermont County - Clermont Recovery
Center, Inc., a division of Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health,
Batavia, OH
- Community Action for Capable Youth of Mansfield, Ohio, Inc., Mansfield, OH
- Community Awareness and Prevention Association (CAPA),
Brecksville, OH
- Community Connections, Inc., Princeton, WV
- Community for New Direction, Inc., Columbus, OH
- Community Health of East
Tennessee, LaFollette,
TN
- Community United Methodist Hospital Inc. (Henderson County Schools), Henderson, KY
- Dayspring Family Health Center, Jellico, TN
- The Dublin City Schools
Substance Abuse Prevention Program, Dublin, OH
- East Cleveland Neighborhood
Center, Inc., East Cleveland,
OH
- Family and Youth Initiatives, New
Carlisle, OH
- Family Recovery Center, Lisbon,
OH
- Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN
- Goodwill Easter Seals of Miami
Valley, Dayton, OH
- Great Schools Partnership Charitable Trust, Knoxville, TN
- Juniper Health, Inc. Beattyville,
KY
- King's Daughters Medical Center, Ashland, KY
- MountainHeart Community Services, Inc. Oceana, WV
- New River Health Association Inc, Scarbro, WV
- Northeast Kentucky Area Health Education Center, Morehead, KY
- LifeTown Columbus, New Albany,
OH
- The Ohio State University Cuyahoga
County Extension Office, Cleveland,
OH
- The Ohio State University Lake
County Extension Office, Painesville,
OH
- The Ohio State University Scioto
and Lawrence County Extension Offices, Portsmouth, OH
- OhioGuidestone, Berea, OH
- OneEighty, Inc, Wooster,
OH
- The Pike County Recovery Council, Inc., Waverly, OH
- Roane County Anti-Drug Coalition, Kingston, TN
- Southern Kentucky Area Health Education Center, Mt. Vernon, KY
- STARS Nashville, Nashville, TN
- Summit County Community Partnership, Akron, OH
- United Way of Union County,
Marysville, OH
- University of Charleston School of
Pharmacy, Charleston, WV
- University of Toledo College of
Nursing and College of Health and Human Services, Toledo, OH
- Wings of Hope Recovery Services, Inc., Portsmouth, OH
- Youth Health Service, Inc., Elkins,
WV
Prevention education grantees will receive technical assistance
from:
- The Ohio State University Colleges
of Pharmacy and Social Work, Columbus,
OH
- CompDrug's Youth to Youth International, Columbus, OH
Best practices in pain medication use and patient
engagement
- ASAP of Anderson, Clinton, TN
- CAMC Health Education and Research Institute, Charleston, WV
- Cedarville University School of Pharmacy, Cedarville, OH
- CHI Memorial Foundation, Chattanooga,
TN
- Hope Family Health, Westmoreland,
TN
- Mercy Health Partners, Cincinnati,
OH
- MetroHealth Foundation Inc., Cleveland, OH
- Norton Healthcare Foundation, Inc., Louisville, KY
- PrimaryOne Health, Columbus,
OH
- Promedica Health System, Inc, Toledo,
OH
- Saint Thomas Health Foundations, Nashville, TN
- Southwest General Health Center, Middleburg, OH
- University of Findlay, Findlay, OH
- University of Tennessee Graduate
School of Medicine, Knoxville,
TN
- West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation, Inc., Jackson, TN
Best practices in pain medication use grantees will receive
technical assistance from Geisinger Health, Danville, PA
Community-level response to the opioid crisis (Ohio only)
- Berger Health Foundation, Circleville, OH
- Coalition for a Drug-Free Mahoning County, Boardman, OH
- Columbus Urban League,
Columbus, OH
- Community Action Commission of Fayette County, Washington Courthouse, OH
- Family Health Services of Darke
County, Greenville, OH
- McKinley Health, Inc., Springfield,
OH
- Ohio Northern University,
Ada, OH
- Summit County Combined General Health District, Akron, OH
Community-level response grantees will receive technical
assistance from LEAD, Lake Forest,
IL
About the Cardinal Health Foundation
The Cardinal
Health Foundation supports local, national and international
programs that improve health care efficiency, effectiveness and
excellence and the overall wellness of the communities where
Cardinal Health, Inc.'s (NYSE: CAH) approximately 50,000 employees
live and work. The Cardinal Health Foundation also offers grants to
encourage community service among its employees and works through
international agencies to donate much-needed medical supplies and
funding to those who need them in times of disaster; because
Cardinal Health, Inc. is #AllInForGood. To learn more, visit
www.CardinalHealth.com/community.
About Generation Rx
Generation Rx works to end
prescription drug misuse through prevention education, drug take
back, best practices in pain management and community
collaborations. The program was created through a partnership with
the Cardinal Health Foundation and The Ohio
State University College of Pharmacy. Since 2009, more than
one million people across the country have been reached with
Generation Rx messages, and pharmacists in 40 states have been
honored with the Generation Rx Champions Award. To learn more,
visit www.GenerationRx.org.
About Cardinal Health's Opioid Action Program
In 2017, Cardinal Health launched the Opioid Action
Program, a pilot program aimed at helping communities
across the Appalachian region, including
in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and West
Virginia, four of the nation's hardest-hit states. The program
delivers much needed front-line tools to help prevent opioid abuse
and support communities, schools and first responders.
The Opioid Action Program builds
on Generation Rx. Learn more
at www.cardinalhealth.com/opioidactionprogram.
About Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health, Inc. is a
global, integrated healthcare services and products company,
providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems,
pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and
physician offices worldwide. The company provides clinically proven
medical products, pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that
enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home. Cardinal
Health connects patients, providers, payers, pharmacists and
manufacturers for integrated care coordination and better patient
management. To help combat prescription drug abuse, the company and
its education partners created Generation Rx, a national drug
education and awareness program. Backed by nearly 100 years of
experience, with approximately 50,000 employees in nearly 60
countries, Cardinal Health ranks #14 on the Fortune 500. For
more information, visit cardinalhealth.com, follow @CardinalHealth
on Twitter, @cardinalhealthwings on Facebook and connect on
LinkedIn at linkedin.com/ company/cardinal-health.
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