*Robin was living what many
would consider an ideal life.
He had a loving wife and family
and a successful health care
career. After a prescription for
pain management following
back surgery developed into an
opioid addiction, the life he knew
drastically changed.
8 HEART BEAT SUMMER & FALL 2020
Confronting
the Opioid Crisis
Facing Rural
Washington
How One Collaboration is
Mobilizing a Comprehensive
Community Response.
"I didn't stop at my doctor's prescriptions," says Robin. "I
knew when to say ouch. I knew how to exaggerate it to get
what I needed. I took Vicodin, Oxycodone, morphine and
fentanyl, which led to other drugs. As a result, I lost my
career, I got divorced, and I lost my family."
As tragic as it is, Robin's story is unfortunately all too common.
In America,¹ 130 people lose the battle to opioid addiction
every day. Family physicians are scrambling to treat opiate use
disorder with limited resources and more treatment programs
are desperately needed—especially in rural areas where patients
like Robin have minimal access to care.
Barriers to treatment, such as the stigma surrounding the
condition and lack of access to care, are what inspired
Caleb Holtzer, M.D., MPH, a family medicine provider with
Providence, to lead the Tri-County Opioid Treatment Network
(TCOTN), a rural opioid treatment program in Washington's
northeast counties. The result for Robin and over 300 other
patients has been nothing short of life changing.
