Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Not long after helping launch a massive public awareness campaign, MetroHealth Medical Center today announced the formation of the Office of Opioid Safety. The new initiative will augment medical services for opioid addicts in a county struggling with dramatic overdose death statistics.

The Office of Opioid Safety will be overseen by Dr. Joan Papp, a MetroHealth ER physician who started Project DAWN four years ago. Project DAWN has helped distribute naloxone kits throughout the community, saving countless lives and educating addicts along the way.

Team members in the Office of Opioid Safety will work with primary care doctors to better facilitate treatment for patients with medical histories involving opioids. The office will also apply for federal grant funding to offset the increasing costs of health care in this climate.

This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2017.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.