Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. The opioid epidemic has received a lot of attention in Indiana, and for good reason. Drug overdose deaths – which are currently being driven by misuse of opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and synthetic opioids like fentanyl – resulted in the death of almost 1,300 Hoosiers in 2016. A recent National Safety Council survey found that 80% of Indiana employers reported workplace issues related to employee use of prescription opioids. And Indiana’s Department of Child Services reports that the number of children in foster care has risen dramatically due in large part to the opioid crisis. In […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. The opioid epidemic, and related behavioral and mental health issues, is wreaking havoc in the lives of Hoosiers across the state and in Marion County in particular. To help address the crisis, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation is making strategic grants to expand access to treatment for those struggling with addiction. It’s important to our Foundation and the people these grants are designed to help that we target our grants to areas of greatest need, which we do by tracking several key metrics related to access to treatment. One metric we monitor is the behavioral […]