More than five people die from opioid overdoses every day in Arizona, according to the state’s Health Service department.
Since 2021, there has been a roughly 14% decline in fatal overdoses and a 16% decline in non-fatal overdoses.
In Tempe, for nearly a decade, the city has implemented an Opioid Response Plan, which prioritizes community outreach, education and prevention to reduce the rate of opioid misuse.
“We have three areas of our plan: prevention, recovery and resiliency, as well as enforcement. Because we know that we need all three of those areas to really make an impact," Mary Mezey, community health and human service deputy director, said.
Mezey credits the decrease to the response plan.
“Our efforts are working and we want to maintain those efforts and continue to see that number decrease," Mezey said.
The city will use roughly $9 million in national opioid settlement funds over the next 18 years to expand the program.
Mezey said the city is seeking public input to understand how this program can expand and improve via a survey open through April 13.
-
“Stories of the Street” is a collection of the stories Michael Demangone and his fellow students have met as part of the university’s street medicine program. -
A bill that would outlaw mandatory vaccinations or mask wearing cleared the Arizona Senate on Monday. The measure would forbid the government from imposing any kind of mandate whether or not they’re on government property. -
The attending physician at the private clinic in Hermosillo that administered the IVs that allegedly led to eight deaths is still at large. -
These workers tend to have schedules that make it hard to get enough sleep, or consistent sleep, and Kat Kennedy’s research at the University of Arizona’s BIO5 Institute focuses on what these disruptions mean for their health. -
A patient in Arizona has been successfully treated with a new type of lumbar spine disc repair. According to HonorHealth Research Institute in Scottsdale, it’s the first time the treatment has been used in the state and the second time in the U.S.
