Iowa could get up to $4 million for opioid help

Iowa could be eligible for up to $4 million in federal funding to expand access to opioid treatment under a White House proposal that would allocate $1.1 billion to states to fight the nationwide epidemic.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that opioids — including heroin, hydrocodone and oxycodone — were responsible for 28,648 deaths in 2014.

In Iowa, 52 people died from opioid overdoses in 2014, with 19 of those dying of heroin overdoses, according to state data.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters that the funding potentially could be used to expand a variety of treatment efforts, including drug courts, medication-assisted treatment programs and telemedicine efforts in more rural areas of the state.

The funding is part of a multipronged approach by President Barack Obama and the federal government to combat the issue. Other efforts include new CDC prescription guidelines for physicians, better provider training on appropriate prescribing practices and additional funding to the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services to expand treatment and prevention services.

Congress voted in favor of developing a final bill that provides enough money for prevention, treatment and recovery to address the opioid epidemic, a White House statement said, but it has not agreed on the actual amount of funding to provide.

'That's imperative,' Vilsack said. 'We need resources behind the permission to focus on this.'

READ MORE: The Gazette recently published a four-part series on addition to heroin and other opioids. Read those stories at the links below:

How Iowans struggle - and sometimes succeed - in overcoming opioid addiction

For some, heroin is 'love at first sight'

For pregnant women battling opioid addiction, more at stake than just breaking the habit

Authorities take varied approaches to addressing opiate epidemic

Patricia Pressley, a Coralville resident whose son died from a heroin overdose in 2015, joined Vilsack on the call, highlighting what she said were addiction treatment gaps in the health care system.

Her son, Nick, began experimenting with drugs when he was 14 years old, she said. He told her that he was addicted to heroin when he was 24. And he died at age 31.

Pressley said she and her husband worked hard to get Nick the necessary treatment — he went to an 30-day inpatient program in Minnesota, several outpatient clinics, and was on methadone for about two years.

But during this time, she said, her family also saw first hand how inadequate the infrastructure to treat substance abuse was. The night Nick admitted he was addicted to heroin, she took him to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics emergency room where her family received 'little to no help,' she said.

He was discharged, she said with 'no follow-up, no social services and no referrals.' A substance-abuse counselor met with him for 15 minutes the following morning, she said, and handed him a list of Narcotics Anonymous meeting places.

'This represented the best care UIHC could provide to a young, scared heroin addict?' she said.

The funding proposed by the White House would include:

l $920 million for states to expand access to medication-assisted treatment, such as methadone or buprenorphine

l $50 million in National Health Service Corps funding to expand access to substance abuse treatment providers

l $30 million to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment programs.

Vilsack said it's important that those dealing with opioid addiction have access to the right kind of medication-assisted treatment — medication to ease withdrawals and curb cravings in addition to counseling services.

In addition, rural states such as Iowa need to work to fill gaps in more rural communities through telemedicine — which can be used in a variety of ways, including behavioral counseling or guidance in the hospitals' emergency departments.

'Communities need to be engaged in supporting' those dealing with addiction, he said. 'We need to create an atmosphere for them to seek help and get through rough patches.'