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Date: 7/15/2016
SPRINGFIELD –Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper is looking forward to working on one of three new special commissions recently created by Gov. Charlie Baker to address the opioid addiction problem in the Commonwealth.
Cooper is serving on a commission whose charge is to address issues surrounding how physicians prescribe prescription opioid medications, she explained to Reminder Publications. Over-prescription has been linked to addiction.
“I do believe that part of the solution is in the training of practitioners,” she said.
Cooper said that she had the opportunity of meeting the governor at a football game at which Springfield College was playing Union College. Baker’s son plays on the Union team. She recalled telling the governor if she could ever be of service to call her and he subsequently called her to serve on this commission.
She is the only person from Western Massachusetts who is on the commission and her colleagues include Todd Brown, vice chairman of the School of Pharmacy at Northeastern University; Nitigna Desai, MD, director of Addiction Psychiatry at Bedford Veteran Affairs Medical Center and director of Substance Abuse Service Line at New England Healthcare; Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, president and CEO of the Dimock Community Health Center; Brad Ulrich, regional vice-president for The Walgreen’s Company; and Joan Vitello-Cicciu, dean of the University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Nursing.
Cooper noted that Springfield College has a very highly ranked physicians assistant training program. Since her appointment she has been speaking with faculty members of that program and undertaking “a great deal of reading” to prepare for the work.
She believes content and curriculum is important in training people who prescribe such medications. Medical personnel need to have a “vast and in-depth understanding of what [prescription opioid medications] leads to.”
She said she has been “overwhelmed by this crisis … ‘crisis’ may not be strong enough a word.”
The commission will submit its recommendations on or before Dec. 1.
“I am honored to serve on this Commission, representing our outstanding health care preparation programs at Springfield College,” Cooper said. “I am excited about the diversity of the commission, which includes family members of those who have struggled with opioid use, current health care providers, other educators, and committed community members all wanting to be apart of solutions to the opioid crisis.”
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