News Releases

Opioid Consortium Shares Insight on Opioid Public Health Crisis with U.S. State Department Exchange Program Alumni

On Friday, April 6, The Center for Health Affairs participated in a local conference on substance abuse and addiction by hosting a site visit for conference attendees seeking to learn more about the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium and its experience addressing the opioid public health crisis.

The site visit was a component of a four-day meeting funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and organized by World Learning, a non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. The conference, Building Communities of Hope: Collective Action to Tackle Addiction, was one of the regionally focused gatherings that are held for alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs, which include the Fulbright Program and a number of others. Participants in these events explore issues of shared value, receive training and collaborate with fellow alumni to implement community-based projects upon their return.

The Cleveland gathering of more than 40 participants from 18 states and two additional countries included medical students, nurses, doctors, academics, psychologists, art therapists, and directors of substance abuse prevention and rehabilitation programs. Representatives from the U.S. Department of State were also in attendance.

The site visit hosted by The Center allowed a group of 15 participants to learn about the Opioid Consortium and its work to coordinate the efforts of health professionals, medical institutions, and community organizations in Northern Ohio to address the heroin and opioid public health crisis. The participants were eager to learn from the Opioid Consortium about best practices in order to work with their communities to increase awareness of substance abuse, help people tackle addiction and provide holistic recovery programs.

Conference attendees were also offered the opportunity to visit the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, which has taken a leadership role in convening stakeholders in the region to address the opioid crisis, as well as the Dalton Foundation in Aurora, which supports relink.org, a project created to connect those seeking assistance with addiction recovery and re-entry to the available services and resources in the community.

For more on the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium and its work to address the opioid public health crisis, contact us.