BIDDEFORD — On March 29, the University of New England became one of the initial 61 medical schools across the country to sign on to the Obama administration’s initiative on heroin and opioid addiction.

One of the centerpieces of the administration’s plan involves teaching future physicians about the dangers of overprescribing opioids through various educational programs. As president of UNE, I am particularly proud that our university is among the initial signatories.

This is because dealing with the problem of opioid addiction resonates for me on a personal level, as well as a professional one. I have lost two cousins to addiction – both from rural Ohio, which, in many ways, is demographically and economically similar to Maine. One cousin was a loving father; the other was captain of his high school football team.

That second cousin, the athlete, lived in the heart of the “pill mill” area that stretches from Kentucky through rural Ohio. He was a high school senior who suffered an injury and became addicted to pills, and this addiction tragically led to his death. His mother, a nurse, then dedicated herself to visiting local schools, educating students about the dangers of opioid abuse.

My other cousin, the husband and father, struggled with addiction for more than a decade. When he died of an overdose, his tragic loss left a distraught family behind.

I knew both of my cousins as genuinely kind and decent people. But once addiction has you in its grip, it is often difficult to break free. I know my family is not alone in its grief. With 272 overdose deaths last year in Maine and 8 percent of babies in our state born drug-affected, many families are impacted by this epidemic.

So deciding that UNE should sign on to the Obama administration’s initiative was an easy choice for me to make personally – but professionally, the decision also made perfect sense.

UNE has been ahead of the curve on this issue for many years, ensuring that our health professions students have access to the latest information on topics such as acute and chronic pain management, the responsible use of opioids and other effective treatments (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) for reducing the impact that pain has on patients, as well as on substance abuse and broader mental health topics.

UNE’s osteopathic medical school focuses on primary care medicine, making it especially critical that we deliver a comprehensive education of these topics. Pain, after all, is one of the most common reasons that people seek a physician’s care.

Several published studies have indicated that the average U.S. medical school curriculum dedicates between nine and 12 hours to pain and opioid-related topics over the entire four years of training, less than what many veterinary schools offer! In contrast, UNE’s medical school offers more than 60 hours of pain-related content in just the first two years. Critically, this content comes not just from lectures, but is integrated across case-based and small-group learning environments, including anatomy and osteopathic clinical skills courses.

UNE’s medical school also frequently brings to campus people from our local community who are living with severe chronic pain, battling substance abuse and facing other chronic health problems. As a result, our students are educated from a first-person perspective on the challenges people experience, as well as from the perspectives of physicians and other health professionals.

UNE’s internationally recognized interprofessional education also prepares our students to tackle the complex problems associated with chronic pain and opioid addiction. UNE students from different health professions programs work together as members of health care teams to develop their skills and knowledge.

By placing aspiring doctors side by side with students in our physician assistant, dental medicine, physical therapy, social work, nursing, pharmacy and other programs, we teach them to work collaboratively to effectively address these complex health issues.

UNE’s research programs, too, seek to advance our fundamental understanding of the neurobiology of pain and contribute to early stage discovery and development of non-addictive analgesics.

UNE is proud to be part of a growing network here in Maine of community members, health professionals, researchers and elected leaders who have stepped up to look for answers. Whether we are affected personally or professionally by this epidemic, by working together, we are stronger, and can restore health to those affected as well as to our entire communities.

 

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