CLEVELAND – Gov, Chris Christie of New Jersey, head of a Presidential Commission on opioids, summed it up well when addressing doctors and patients gathered at the Louis Stokes VA Center in Cleveland.

“We didn’t come here by accident,” he said.

Christie, and several prominent national figures, toured the VA Center on Thursday to learn more about a remarkable contradiction.

Even though the state of Ohio has the highest addiction rate in the nation, the Stokes Center in Cleveland has the lowest addiction rate across the nation in terms of VA hospitals treating patients.

So, how is that possible?

It started several years ago, when caregivers at the Stokes VA starting tackling the explosion in opiate addiction.

Basically, they looked for innovative ways to treat pain that involved fewer opiates, and they looked to monitor patients closely for signs of addiction, along with additional training for doctors about prescribing painkillers.

The Cleveland model has now been incorporated into a system-wide effort at the VA called

“STOP PAIN.”

“One of my personal goals in working with the President…is to de-stigmatize the opiate addiction,” said Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to President Trump.

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a recovering addict, said the VA is on the forefront in treating mental illness and addiction together in their efforts to help many patients.

He also said addiction needs to be treated, and covered by insurance, like any other disease.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin, also traveled to Cleveland with the group to see first-hand what has worked so well at the Stokes VA Center.

VA doctors here have reduced opioid prescribing by 25 percent in the past seven years.
That’s more then double the reduction seen nationwide, or elsewhere in the region at other health systems