The Monroe Owen County Medical Society Fall General Dinner Meeting was held at the new Woolery Stone Mill venue on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. This event was well attended by many physicians, spouses, and IUSOM medical students. The focus of this get-together was a discussion of the solutions to the opioid crisis. Featured guest speakers were Dr. Will Cooke of Austin, Indiana, and Dr. Greg May of Centerstone.
Jon Barada, MBA, CFRE, Bloomington Health Foundation opened the program with comments on the many contributions the BHF has made to our community, specifically in their support of the opioid crisis. We want to thank Jon Barada and the Bloomington Health Foundation for their sponsorship of this event. Below are some key take-aways of this event.
William Cooke, MD, FAAFP, AAHIVS, has been practicing family medicine in Austin, Indiana, since 2004. Because of the opioid epidemic and Austin’s geographic location, the community had become the epicenter of the country’s most serious drug- related HIV outbreaks. Interstate 65 from Chicago to Louisville goes through Austin, making this small rural town the crosshairs of two deadly epidemics. Members of the community were dying of overdoses and suffering dire consequences of sharing dirty needles. As these issues raged, Dr. Cooke welcomed all people to his clinic who needed his attention, regardless of their illness or ability to pay. Dr. Cooke shared that people who use drugs or do not take their Hep C or HIV meds, are often accused of being lazy, criminal or unintelligent. However, he found that these people are no different than any of us, and he treats them as equals. Dr. Cooke said, “We must stop believing some people are intrinsically defective and begin defending the intrinsic value of every person. We must not banish broken people, but the broken culture that forbids vulnerability.” Members of Dr. Cooke’s clinical team were sent to training sessions in Indianapolis. In addition, Cooke and his staff participated in in-service training sessions with experienced clinicians to improve staff understanding of, comfort level with, and capability to care for people living with HIV. Cooke also started a needle exchange program in his community. Dr. Cooke found that when they focused on a patient-centered approach to the problems in Scott County, a “beautiful thing happened”. In just four years, the number of people in recovery has increased by 1000% and nearly all of his HIV patients are virally suppressed. As of today, 76% of Cooke’s patients with HIV have undetectable viral loads and are therefore unable to spread the disease to others. That compares to 49% nationally. Also, there is a 95% decline of new HIV cases from 2015 to 2018. Ending an HIV epidemic is possible when you pull together resources throughout the community. Dr. Cooke refuses to accept that access to being healthy is a privilege. He believes that we must put an end to stigmatizing and marginalizing people. Patients must come before policy. Because of his response to the community need, Cooke became a nationally certified expert in the treatment of HIV and board certified in addiction medicine. Cooke’s unrelenting commitment to his patients, as well as his many successes, have earned him national recognition by the American Academy of Family Physicians as the AAFP’s 2019 Family Physician of the Year.
At the end of his presentation, Dr. Cooke challenged the physicians present to recapture the passion that made them decide to become physicians. He added that physicians should insist on recognizing the intrinsic value of every single life and that they continue to provide compassionate care that patients deserve to ensure long-term good health. Dr. Cooke has written a book, Canary in the Coal Mine, At the Crossroad of a Syndemic, which should be available the beginning of 2020.
Greg May, MS, EdD serves as Centerstone’s Administrative Director of Adult and Family Services and is responsible for overseeing cross-functional grant teams including criminal justice initiatives as well as business practice alignment for a twenty-county area. He has strong ties with state and local leaders and community stakeholders. He has direct treatment experience facilitating individual, group therapy, and educational lectures. Over 10 years of Dr. May’s experience is based in substance use treatment and recovery and he was a member of the Trauma Informed Care Committee at Centerstone. He is a Chair of the Monroe County Opioid Commission and on the board of Monroe County CARES. Dr. May serves as the treatment liaison for the four problem solving courts (drug, re-entry, mental health, and veteran) in Monroe County.
Dr. May started his presentation by stating that he has the fun task of telling law enforcement in Monroe County to not arrest people, but instead get them into treatment. He is responsible for programs at Centerstone that are specifically targeted for people with opioid abuse disorders and to get them access to care as quickly as possible. Dr. May brought fliers to the program that are available for physicians to use in their practice. The fliers include one with general services of Centerstone, one with addiction services of Centerstone, one discussing Centerstone Recovery Centers residential programs and one with information on the Opioid Crisis Response Team. All fliers include the Centerstone toll free phone number, 800-344-8802, as well as the Crisis Services number 800-832- 5442, which is answered 24/7. There is also a treatment program in the Monroe County jail for people who have been arrested and have a substance abuse disorder.
Dr. May also shared that there are other providers in the community for substance use disorders; these include Amethyst House, IU Health and Meadows Hospital. Health care providers can also get help by calling 211 or by calling the Indiana Addiction Hotline at 1-800-662-4357.
If any physician would like any of the Centerstone materials for their offices, or would like contact information for Dr. Greg May, contact the MOCMS office at [email protected]. As always, MOCMS welcomes any suggestions for topics of future events. If you have any ideas, please forward to Susan Geyer at direct[email protected].
