Henderson NC – The Kerr-Tar Area Agency on Aging (AAA) will host a public meeting on May 9 at 2:00 p.m. at the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments, 1724 Graham Avenue, Henderson, to talk about the current opioid crisis in our region. Guest speaker will be Gray Fullwood, Diversion and Environmental Crimes Unit, NC State Bureau of Investigation, who serves all five counties in our region. Fullwood will talk about prescription narcotic abuse, heroin abuse, and overdoses to include overdose deaths. However, more importantly, Fullwood will also discuss current “solutions” for the opioid crisis.
According to Kate Lorig, developer of the Stanford University based program called Living Healthy with Chronic Pain, the use of opioids are a very new area of medicine. There is probably no group of drugs that is less understood, either by the public or health professionals. According to her book, Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Pain, Lorig discusses different ways to treat pain without the use of more opioids. Lorig states, “Today the over use of opioids is a problem.” Patients who use opioids to treat pain would like to use less, but have a fear of intense pain and withdrawals. Higher doses of pain medicine are no better at relieving pain. In fact, when opioids are taken for more than a month, they only reduce pain by 25-30 percent.
Using more medicine is not the answer. However, according to North Carolina Health and Human Services data, as of February 2018, nearly 400 people in our state ended up in the Emergency Department overdosed on opioids such as OxyContin and Fentanyl. The U.S. Census reports that in NC overdoses occur among white individuals, ages 25-34 years old. In addition, cocaine overdoses are on the rise. “It is our goal to educate the public about opioid use, drug diversion and how law enforcement is dealing with this problem that not only affects younger individuals but older adults as well,” says Jillian Hardin, Director, Kerr-Tar Area Agency on Aging, “and most importantly we will talk about some solutions to this issue.”
The Kerr-Tar Area Agency on Aging leads and is involved in the efforts that provide for the development and enhancement of comprehensive and coordinated community based systems of services, opportunities, and protections for older adults which assist them in leading independent, meaningful and dignified lives in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. We serve five counties, Franklin, Granville, Person, Vance and Warren.
For more information about the Kerr Tar Area Agency on Aging, please call 252-436-2040.