George Fox University Receives Grant to Treat Opioid Addiction
Reported by Natalie Amodei
Newberg, Ore. — George Fox University (GFU) received $1.2 million dollars in federal grants to treat individuals with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD).
The grant will fund eight doctoral students with $25,000 annual stipends for three years while treating patients at two clinics: Chemawa Indian School Primary Care Clinic in Salem and the Providence Medical Group in Newberg. The program will begin this fall.
“This [grant] gives us the opportunity to serve people in our community by taking clinical services to the places they go, rather than expecting them to navigate barriers, which include a lack of mental health benefits, cost, and transportation challenges,” Mary Peterson, chair of GFU’s Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology, said in a GFU news release.
In 2017, 1.7 million Americans were diagnosed with a SUD originating from opioid prescriptions and there were 47,600 opioid drug overdose deaths according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Opioid pain relievers are largely considered safe when taken for a short time, but because of the euphoria accompanying pain relief, they can lead to dependence and misuse such as addiction, overdosing, and death. NIDA reported that 21-29% of patients prescribed opioids to treat chronic pain will misuse them.
Peterson estimates that roughly 4,600 individuals will be treated each year through this grant. Additionally, the grant will be able to fund telebehavioral health services – employing technology to expand the range of access and service – to treat patients in underserved rural areas who face transportation barriers. “This really puts George Fox on the radar in the field of integrated health services,” Peterson said.
Patients covered under the grant funds will be treated for free. Approximately 70% of the money will be put towards student stipends and training opportunities, with the rest covering supervision expenditures and equipment costs.
“Normally, these treatments aren’t reimbursable. Not only will this help us optimize what we are doing now but expand upon it and hopefully make it scalable to replicate it,” said Robin Henderson, Providence’s chief executive of behavioral health, in a GFU news release.
Dr. Kristie Knows His Gun, principal investigator and director of the program’s primary care track, and Glena Andrews, director of clinical training at GFU’s Doctor of Psychology program, were both active in the grant writing process.