According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2017, there were 1,014 overdose deaths involving opioids in Georgia—a rate of 9.7 deaths per 100,000 Georgians.
Volunteers will be collecting tablets, capsules, and patches of Hydrocodone (Norco, Lortab, Vicodin), Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), Tramadol (Ultram), Codeine, Fentanyl (Duragesic), Morphine, Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and Oxymorphone (Opana). Needles, syringes, lancets or liquids will not be accepted.
Eastside Medical Center is participating as part of HCA Healthcare’s first national “Crush the Crisis” opioid take-back day. More than 65 HCA Healthcare facilities across 15 states are uniting to collect unused or expired opioids for one day.
“Opioid addiction is a growing crisis not only in Gwinnett County but across our nation,” said Dr. Stephen Higgins, Chief Medical Officer at Eastside Medical Center. “Our goal for ‘Crush the Crisis’ is to raise awareness of the dangers of opioid addiction and educate our community about the proper disposal of these medications. Opioid addiction can happen to anyone and we are providing this drop off opportunity confidentially and anonymously.”
To further help combat the nation’s opioid crisis, HCA Healthcare, the parent company of Eastside Medical Center, proudly partners with the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, consisting of more than 50 organizations that share best practices and identify gaps in the safe treatment of opioid addiction.
A learning health system, which uses data from approximately 31 million annual patient encounters to help continuously improve care, HCA Healthcare has been using the science of “big data” to reduce opioid misuse and transform pain management, with initiatives in surgical, emergency and other care settings, including:
• Enhanced Surgical Recovery (ESR)/ALTernatives to Opioids in the Emergency Room (ALTO in the ER): HCA Healthcare focuses on a multi-modal approach to acute pain management. This means two or more methods or medications are used to reduce the need to use opioids to manage a patient’s pain while recovering from surgery or in the emergency room. As of August 2019, ESR is live at 140 HCA Healthcare facilities, with the goal to implement in all facilities, in at least one major service line, by the end of 2019. ALTO protocols will be expanded enterprise-wide by the end of 2019.
• Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS): Physicians have access to aggregated electronic health records that make it more difficult for medication-seekers to doctor-shop or alter prescriptions. ECPS is available across HCA Healthcare.
“Crush the Crisis” will take place outside of Eastside Medical Center’s Main Campus Emergency Department entrance at 1700 Medical Way in Snellville. For more information, visit EastsideMedical.com or call 833.582.1970.
