Starting next year, funds from a recently settled opioid lawsuit will be doled out to local and county governments to help solve the problems caused by addiction to opioids and other drugs, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a Monday news conference.
The conference was held at Pyramid Healthcare’s Lehigh Valley Women’s Residential Treatment Center in Catasauqua and was attended by Shapiro, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and representatives from Pyramid Healthcare.
The news conference focused on the services Pyramid Healthcare and others provide for opioid and other drug addictions, challenges created by the pandemic related to drug addiction treatment; and how Pennsylvania’s share of a $26 billion settlement against opioid manufacturers and distributors would help address drug addiction.
The settlement was the result of a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and several U.S. drug distributors by attorneys general from several states. It will bring Pennsylvania more than $1 billion over several years, starting with $232 million in 2022. Shapiro said 85% of those funds will be distributed to county and municipal governments and 15% will go to the state.
Shapiro, who is running for governor, said 138 Lehigh County residents died last year from opioids and, on average, 15 Pennsylvanians are killed by opioids per day. These trends need to be reversed, he said, and while a robust law enforcement response is necessary, drug addiction is not a problem that governments can arrest their way out of. He said a focus needs to be on expanding and enhancing addiction treatment options.
“COVID has made the need more significant when it comes to helping those who are battling the disease of addiction, and COVID has complicated driving out those services. Now, more than ever, we need resources to help,” Shapiro said.
Sarah Deutchman, executive vice president of operations for Pyramid Healthcare, said the pandemic highlighted a shortage of staff members to meet the demands of people who need drug addiction treatment.
“Staff shortages have been the No. 1 barrier to treatment for Pyramid Healthcare,” Deutchman said. “As the demand for withdrawal management and detox, residential and outpatient increases, we lack the appropriate levels of staff to meet the needs of the population in the communities that we serve.”
Shapiro said he has heard from other drug addiction treatment centers across the state that they also have problems getting enough staff, as well as properly compensating staff. Once the settlement funds are distributed, he expects training programs, improved reimbursement and other workforce bolstering measures to be provided by many local and county governments, he said.
Martin said addressing staffing shortages at treatment centers is key to tackling the opioid and drug addiction problems in Lehigh County.
“On the local level, we have tried mightily to divert as many people who suffer from substance use disorder as we can,” Martin said. “We run into the same difficulties that the attorney general has described and that’s a lack of treatment facilities, lack of detoxification units, and step-down programs.”
Shapiro added that it’s important to understand that drug addiction treatment often involves more than just addressing the addiction itself — often other mental health problems are involved and those related services need more resources, too. As an example, he said, many of the patients getting treatment for drug addiction through Pyramid Healthcare are women who have experienced sex trafficking and also receive treatment for trauma because of that.
Deutchman said though staffing is a challenge, Pyramid Healthcare is adapting and growing. Over the course of the pandemic, Pyramid adopted telehealth services to reach more individuals and plans to add seven withdrawal management beds in the Lehigh Valley.
However, she added staffing needs to be addressed so everyone who needs drug treatment can get it.
“We need the support of our local universities in partnering to develop curriculum to make sure that new professionals entering the workforce are prepared for this line of work,” Deutchman said. “We need to become more creative with student loan forgiveness programs to encourage folks to enter human services and behavioral health.”
Morning Call reporter Leif Greiss can be reached at 610-679-4028 or lgreiss@mcall.com.
