Public Health

Dr. Alicia Thompson is expected to begin her role leading SRHD in December.

The facility, located south of downtown, is a larger home for the Spokane Regional Health District’s opioid treatment and assistance effort. With a patient roster around 1,000 people, the treatment program has outgrown its current staffing and space at SRHD’s downtown Spokane headquarters.

In North Idaho drug overdoses and deaths have been increasing, including three overdoses at the end of May. Health officials say all three people survived thanks to intervention, but say the presence of a much more potent opioid, fentanyl, is putting more people at risk.

Supporters say it’s a chance for the state to be a leader in ending the war on drugs and addressing the disproportionate harm those policies have had on people of color.

Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are cheaper, more potent and far easier to obtain than heroin or prescription pills. Public health service providers say they need more tools, like testing strips or safe smoking supplies, to prevent overdoses and connect people to programs.

The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is launching a new initiative targeting fentanyl in Spokane. Eastern Washington has seen a massive increase in fentanyl overdoses and drugs seizures over the last several years.

Hospitals in north Idaho are no longer under crisis standards of care. The region is the last to emerge from the state’s designation.North Idaho has been…

The Spokane Regional Board of Health voted to indemnify board members and Chief Administrative Officer Amelia Clark from a potential lawsuit from their…

The Spokane Regional Board of Health has chosen a permanent health officer.The board, a body of elected officials and appointed community members, voted…

Idaho’s Panhandle Health District has looked to its own ranks for a new leader.Don Duffy was introduced Friday as the agency’s new director.Duffy has been…