Centers get drug treatment grants

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, announced Friday that Ohio North East Health Systems in Youngstown and the Community Action Agency of Columbiana County in Lisbon each received $325,000 to expand substance abuse services, with a focus on opioid addiction.

The funding was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through Health Center Program funds made possible by the Affordable Care Act.

“Ohio’s community health centers are on the front lines of the opioid crisis, so we must give these clinics the tools and resources they need to combat addiction in their communities,” Brown said.

“One Health Ohio proposes to augment its current behavioral health services to the 322,530 citizens residing in the service region by offering a medication-assisted treatment program to include opioid agonist and antagonist medications along with behavioral therapies to manage opioid use disorders,” said Dr. Ron Dwinnells, chief executive officer of One Health Ohio, which operates Ohio North East Health Systems.

“It is great news for the entire [Mahoning] Valley. A grant of this magnitude is outstanding for our community. There is such a need for treatment and education services to address this epidemic,” said Duane Piccirilli, executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board.

“We’re going to use Suboxone” under the grant, as a treatment for heroin addiction, together with counseling and patient monitoring, said Mary Ann Pettibon, chief executive officer of the Lisbon-based CAA health, behavioral health and dental centers.

CAA health, behavioral health and dental centers has two offices each in Lisbon and East Liverpool and one in Salineville.

“It will hopefully help combat the heroin epidemic that is prevalent in Columbiana County,” she said.

The grant will enable CAA to use Suboxone for the first time as a medication-assisted treatment, she added.

The money is included in a total of more than $5 million awarded to 15 Ohio health centers.