News Releases

The fear was that it was futile. Emergency responders would deliver naloxone in the field, bring heroin users back from the brink of death, take them to a hospital for a quick check, and a few hours later, the patient would head back to the life that had brought them there in the first place. As the number of naloxone doses administered each year soared, Eskenazi Health emergency room doctors felt compelled to respond. Last year they started a pilot program with a $20,000 grant from Drug Free Marion County to have trained staff approach every overdose patient to talk about recovery options. Now, thanks to a two-year, $700,000 grant […]

Indiana ranks among the worst states nationally when it comes to opioid abuse — with drug overdoses in 2014 claiming more than 1,100 lives and costing the state $1.4 billion. But this year, we also may be one of the best positioned places to tackle the opioid epidemic by addressing its root causes and fundamentally changing the way our state helps people struggling to overcome addiction.There’s unprecedented momentum at the state and local levels to make conquering opioid addiction — including heroin and prescription painkillers — a top priority. And Hoosier leaders from both sides of the political aisle are taking steps to address the substance abuse crisis.Republican Indiana Gov. […]

WFYI-FM 90.1 is bolstering its news department from 11 to 15—thanks to grants running through 2018—at a time many commercial print and broadcast news departments are downsizing. WFYI will use $600,000 from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation to hire four employees by April 1, launch a health news bureau, and expand the reach of its Side Effects health-related programming. The public radio station will use another $100,000 from The Glick Fund to pay for a reporting position dedicated to covering “poverty, wealth and inequity,” according to WFYI President Lloyd Wright. The person filling that position is already on staff. “Issues around poverty, inequity and health are closely related,” Wright said. […]