Today on the Inland Journal podcast, bringing opioid treatment to rural communities.
Many small towns in the U.S. have been devastated by opioid addictions. One of the contributing factors is that rural providers are often not equipped to help their patients overcome their addictions. They have to direct their clients to clinics and treatment centers in urban areas. And for many, that’s not a good answer.
A team of WSU health sciences researchers has developed a plan to train small teams of health providers and students to go to rural towns and teach doctors, nurses and pharmacists how to provide basic treatment to people with addictions.
The team has landed a $1.9 million, five-year federal grant that will allow them to develop a program and then export it to people who can most use it.
In this program, we talk with Dr. Dawn DeWitt, a professor in the WSU College of Medicine and associate dean for clinical education.