SMART and SMACNA join forces to defeat this powerful enemy
By / Deb Draper
Every day in the United States, at least 115 people die from an opioid overdose—that is 42,000 per year. Furthermore, a recent survey from the U.S. Departmenr of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported that 2.1 million Americans have an opioid use disorder (OUD). In 2017, the US Department of Health & Human Services declared OUD to be a public health emergency. How did this happen? In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies assured medical communities around the world that opioids were not addictive, and prescriptions increased dramatically. However, long-term opioid use decreases the pain-reducing effects, higher doses are needed to keep up with growing chronic pain, and this leads to physical dependence and risk of overdose. It is estimated that one out of every four patients prescribed opioids will go on to misuse them to some degree. Half of those patients will develop OUD. Half of those again eventually transition to heroin. This epidemic of misuse affects everyone, in every walk of life. This is especially true for in construction, which has one of the highest injury rates of any other industry, reaching 77% higher than the national average, according to Midwest Economic Policy Institute research. Mike McCullion, director of SMACNA’s Market Sectors and Safety, sees the opioid crisis as, in many ways, a case management and communication crisis. Generally, the focus on the physical injury and attendant pain relief fails to take in the larger issues of the injured dealing with downtime and unknown, latent, or recurrent addictive and dependency issues.
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The Opioid Use Disorder Epidemic in Construction
“Often workers will get the drugs, and then sit at home and dwell on their situation without interacting with the outside world, including the employer,” McCullion says. “Unable to deal with these growing issues and seemingly overwhelming mental traps, they may turn to other escape mechanisms of available drugs and alcohol, and an often a fatal spiral begins.” In order to offer an effective, healthy recovery plan, physicians need to know what a worker’s job entails or if there will be drug testing at work—some prescription opioids can mean losing a job. With realistic information and up-todate education on individual drugs including opioids, they can offer alternative medications, using opioids only for the very short term. McCullion believes that proper guidance and health care management must be part of an overall injury case management program to get injured workers healthy and back on the job again. “The reality is that anyone who takes prescription opioids can become addicted to them, but those who have addictive tendencies are at even greater risk to misuse opioids.” Even when patients take the prescribed dosage of an opioid, if they add alcohol, sleeping pills, or anti-anxiety meds, their breathing may simply stop. Respiratory depression is the chief hazard associated with opioid painkillers. A report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found that nearly one-quarter of overdose deaths across a five-year span occurred among construction workers. Partners in Progress » June 2019 » 11
