Partnerships in the pursuit of healthier communities took center stage earlier this week as leaders of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the directors of the HHS offices of minority health and the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities marked the observance of National Minority Health Month event in Washington. The theme for the observance is Partnering for Health Equity, and I was honored to host the event, which featured remarks from Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett P. Giroir and Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams.
I was also honored with the opportunity to highlight an HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) project that is helping the community of Huntington, West Virginia, meet the challenges of the opioid epidemic. Perhaps more than any other city, Huntington, understands the devastating toll of the epidemic. From 2010 to 2016, drug overdoses in the city of 50,000 jumped from 105 in one year to nearly 1,500, an increase of more than 1,300 percent. Late last year, the city was one of 15 grantees to receive funding through the HHS Office of Minority Health’s Empowered Communities Initiative.
The grant from OMH funded Huntington’s Quick Response Team (QRT), a community-based partnership of medical care professionals, mental health specialists and law enforcement. Within days of an overdose call in Cabell County, the QRT reaches out to the patient to help connect them to service providers and to work on a plan for intervention. “They said you’d be coming to help me,” is a common response to their knock on the door. In just a few short months, they are saving lives and having a lasting impact.
Like most people, I had never met a super hero. That changed a couple of weeks ago when I visited Huntington and sat with members of the QRT for a discussion about their work. They told me that often people are surprised to see someone turn up at their door to help them after they just had an overdose. Others say the QRT gave them hope and couldn’t see a way forward until they arrived, ready to guide them on a new path. The QRT works work tirelessly connect people who have overdosed and their families to life-saving treatment.
In the midst of a national epidemic, the QRT is doing heroic work.
The program is modeled after a project based in Cincinnati , Ohio and is providing reason for hope in Huntington. Just this month, Huntington reported a significant reduction in the number of reported overdoses and the QRT remains hard at work, armed with experience and compassion. Today, other cities are considering adding the Huntington model of the QRT to their efforts against the opioid epidemic.
At OMH, we are proud to call them our partners.