Opioid Addiction

Northern Virgina Magazine: Katrina King of the Empowered Communities Opioid Project quoted about how schools are fighting fentanyl

Mary Cunningham — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 19:40:07 +0000

Northern Virgina Magazine: Katrina King of the Empowered Communities Opioid Project quoted about how schools are fighting fentanyl Mary Cunningham Fri, 10/27/2023 - 15:40

Fighting Fentanyl: What NoVA Schools Are Doing

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MAP Clinic

Mason and Partners Clinic

Opioid Addiction

Mason and Partner Clinics see 189% increase in appointments since 2018 and delivered $3.8 million in free services to the community

mthomp7 — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:14:41 +0000

Mason and Partner Clinics see 189% increase in appointments since 2018 and delivered $3.8 million in free services to the community mthomp7 Wed, 10/04/2023 - 09:14

Rebcca Sutter discusses the opioid services offered at the MAP Clinics with Representative Jennifer Wexton.

Empowered Communities Opioid Partnership extends Mason’s efforts to reduce overdoses for those involved in the criminal justice system

Rebecca Sutter, professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Mason and Partner Clinics also oversees the Empowered Communities Opioid Partnership (ECOP) – a $2.8 million initiative serving five local health districts (Prince William, Chesterfield, Crater, Portsmouth, and Norfolk) with the goal of reducing opioid-related overdose deaths, non-fatal overdoses, and adverse health consequences among those newly released from jail or prison.

“The chance of overdose or relapsing can be up to 129% higher in the two weeks after release, so we are committed to working with partners in the criminal justice and community-based systems of care to connect high-risk individuals quickly and with low barriers to the care they need,” said Sutter. ECOP has screened more than 950 patients to date and is looking at opening a dedicated Center in early 2024.

In This Story

Rebecca Sutter, DNP, APRN, BC-FNP

Mason and Partner Clinics see 189% increase in appointments since 2018 and delivered $3.8 million in free services to the community

Economic downturn and reductions in Medicaid coverage drive demand for free wellness, preventative, and COVID-related services.

For the past five years, the Mason and Partner (MAP) Clinics have filled an important gap in community health services. In close partnership with area health districts and other service providers, the MAP Clinics have responded to community need with increased accessibility, expanded services, and unwavering support.

During the COVID-19 pandemic alone, the nine MAP Clinics delivered more than 58,220 vaccines and 6,650 COVID tests – providing more than $3,800,000 in free services to the community. The pandemic not only increased demand for health care – it raised awareness about the valuable services offered by the MAP Clinics.

MAP Clinic faculty and staff built deep trust and relationships within the communities they serve – which created a natural place to seek care when economic challenges and/or Medicaid reductions adversely affected vulnerable populations. In addition, the MAP Clinics placed a greater emphasis on preventive care and education post-pandemic to help patients manage their health conditions before they become severe.

“To best meet the needs of the community, the MAP Clinics continually seek new collaborations and partnerships with grassroot community organizations and government agencies. With the deepening opioid crisis, we’ve expanded access for those suffering from this horrible disease through expansion of our Medication for Opioid Use clinics and have expanded our network of peer-recovery support specialists to further assist those struggling with addiction,” says Rebecca Sutter, professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Mason and Partner Clinics.

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MAP Clinic

Mason and Partners Clinic

Washington Business Journal (subscription may be required): Dr. Rebecca Sutter is interviewed about the role Washington, D.C. area employers can play in the fight against opioid abuse

Emma Therese Anderson — Fri, 12 May 2023 14:53:13 +0000

Washington Business Journal (subscription may be required): Dr. Rebecca Sutter is interviewed about the role Washington, D.C. area employers can play in the fight against opioid abuse Emma Therese A… Fri, 05/12/2023 - 10:53

In This Story

Rebecca Sutter, DNP, APRN, BC-FNP

Opioid overdose antidote Narcan will soon be available over the counter. Here’s what D.C.-area employers can be doing (Subscription required)

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Opioids

Opioid Addiction

Nursing Faculty

Mason and Partners (MAP)

CHHS in the Media

College of Public Health

Nursing PhD student receives dissertation funding from nursing organizations

Mary Cunningham — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 18:27:37 +0000

Nursing PhD student receives dissertation funding from nursing organizations Mary Cunningham Wed, 12/14/2022 - 13:27

In This Story

Kyeung Mi Oh, PhD, MSN, RN

Rebecca Bates attributes Mason’s interdisciplinary collaboration for elevating her research on adolescents and opioids.

As the opioid crisis continues, experts search for interdisciplinary solutions and ways to nurture the next generation of researchers. That is why Rebecca A. Bates, DNP, FNP-C, PMP, has received funding from two sources to support her PhD in Nursing dissertation research on adolescents and opioids. Though rare for a student to receive funding for her dissertation, Bates is one of 19 nurses selected to receive the international nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau’s 2021 $5,000 Sigma Small Grants and is the 2022 Connie Henry Award ($750) recipient from the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners, Northern Virginia Region.

Bates is grateful to Nursing faculty, Associate Professor Kyeung Mi Oh, for supporting her research interests and suggesting funding opportunities. She also credits the interdisciplinary opportunities she has had at Mason for expanding her understanding of research possibilities and exploring new ways of thinking about complex problems to create and test new solutions.

“We won’t solve the world’s complex problems in our silos,” Bates said. “I would not have had many of the opportunities I have had if I had gone to another school. Mason has robust support and interdisciplinary opportunities that I’ve enjoyed taking advantage of during my PhD journey.”

In addition to interdisciplinary research, Bates is a Justice Community Opioid Intervention Network (JCOIN) Learning Experiences to Advance Practice (LEAP) Scholar 2022-2023 through the Schar School of Policy and Government, and she is working toward a graduate certificate in Qualitative Research Methods from Mason’s College of Education and Human Development. In 2020, she was also selected for the first cohort of Mason's Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions’ (CASBBI) National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Program. Bates and her fellow interdisciplinary team members participated in community-engaged design project focused on risks and socio-ecological factors associated with opioid use treatment. NRT participants work across disciplines to create solutions to the world’s most challenging problems, including the opioid epidemic.

Bates already holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree and said her clinical practice background informs her current research and prompted her to pursue a PhD degree.

“I never thought I’d leave clinical practice,” she said. “So many issues that patients came in with were preventable. I’ve always been interested in what makes someone healthy and well, and what supports are missing. The only way to prevent people from getting sick is to go back to the research. And when I did, there were still so many questions—and many of those questions can be answered by more research, so I decided I needed to become a researcher.”

The adolescent population is where Bates thinks she can make a difference. Her dissertation research is focused on adolescents and opioids, the experiences of adolescent sub-cultures, and how the sub-cultures shape the adolescent experience with opioids. Her dissertation is titled, “Exploring Sub-Cultural Adolescent Population Experiences of Opioids [ESCAPE Opioids].”

“Adolescents are starting to make their own decisions, create their own social norms, and question what they know—this in-between space is what makes them the ideal population to engage with and to impact their lives before they may start using opioids or other drugs,” said Bates. She is conducting her research in a county with one of the highest opioid overdose mortality rates in the country, and she wants to hear directly from adolescents. She is exploring what sub-cultures have naturally formed and learning from teens about what is meaningful in their lives and what they think is important for decision-makers to know about factors in their community that may contribute to or prevent teens from using opioids and other drugs. This research could inform substance use prevention strategies in this county.

“As a nurse practitioner, I provided primary care services for many patients who experienced overdoses. I want to not only prevent adolescents from using substances, but also find or create opportunities to keep them healthy for the rest of their lives,” said Bates.

Bates currently works for the University of Baltimore, Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area’s (HIDTA) prevention program, A Division for Advancing Prevention and Treatment (ADAPT) as the Technical Assistance (TA) Program Manager. In this role, she supports all TA requests from 33 HIDTAs throughout the United States.

Learn more about Mason’s Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing program.

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