ENROLLED
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 39
BY REPRESENTATIVE WHITE
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To commend Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa, Louisiana, on the establishment
of its Opioid Sparing Initiative, aimed at reducing the number of opioid prescriptions
given to patients by prescribing and using opioid pain treatment only in conjunction
with other proven drugs and protocols and not, generally, as the primary pain
reducer.
WHEREAS, a program at Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, dubbed "Opioid
Sparing", has been successful in reducing patient dependency on opioid pain relievers from
the moment a surgical procedure ends; patients are closely monitored by healthcare
professionals, beginning in the surgical recovery areas of the hospital, and the hospital has
been recognized for its efforts in national trade journals; and
WHEREAS, while the entire country has been affected by what is often referred to
as "the opioid crisis", Louisiana, and particularly Washington Parish, have been
disproportionately affected with physicians statewide writing one hundred eight opioid
prescriptions for every one hundred people in the state, a staggering reality; and
WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in 2016
that nearly sixty-four thousand drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States and of
those, the CDC estimates that more than forty-two thousand involved an opioid drug, or
more than sixty percent of the total; and
WHEREAS, the CDC report also found that Washington Parish ranked second in the
five Louisiana parishes that led the state in opioid deaths; and
WHEREAS, faced with these numbers and the reality that this epidemic strikes
hardest in poor, rural areas similar to Washington Parish, the Washington Parish Coalition
on Human Services and Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, supported by the people of the
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parish, established a program with a grant from Louisiana Partnership for Success offered
by the Florida Parishes Human Services Authority and the Louisiana Department of Health,
office of behavioral health; and
WHEREAS, that grant allowed for the establishment of the opioid sparing effort
focused on the hospital setting at Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, with surgeons, certified
registered nurse anesthetists, and registered nurses collaborating and involving the entire
professional staff in using, as a first step in post-surgical pain relief, transversus abdominis
plane (TAP) and associated blocks which are used in many abdominal procedures and
typically provide between sixteen and twenty hours of somatic pain relief; and
WHEREAS, the TAP blocks are ultrasound-guided, and instruction on this insertion
method is made available at the hospital for both nurse anesthetist students and the staff of
certified registered nurse anesthetists, increasing the number of staff who are proficient in
this procedure; and
WHEREAS, post-surgery, the anesthesia department follows up with all patients,
either in person or by telephone, to ensure that patients have sufficient pain relief, and most
do not require prescription oral medication of any kind for pain relief following the initial
block; and
WHEREAS, this multidisciplinary approach to an aspect of the practice of medicine
that can often lead to a dependency on opioid prescription medication has proven to be an
effective beginning to controlling opioid abuse, particularly when it begins with a
post-surgical patient; and
WHEREAS, Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa and its staff have taken
a proactive approach to the fight against opioid addiction by looking at the beginning of such
dependency, which for many is with post-surgical pain, and is making a difference in the
lives of all their surgical patients by treating their pain without opioid drugs that could prove
more dangerous to their lives than, perhaps, the risk of the surgery itself; and
WHEREAS, Our Lady of the Angels Hospital and the Washington Parish Coalition
on Human Services received a certificate recognizing completion of the first year of the
grant financially enabling this new approach to pain relief; and
WHEREAS, situated in a rural area with serious economic hardships, Our Lady of
the Angels Hospital recognized the threat that opioids pose to the people in its service area
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and has taken a bold and courageous step toward reversing the trend of ever-increasing
hospitalizations and deaths stemming from the abuse of opioid analgesics.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
commend Our Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa, Louisiana, on the establishment of
its Opioid Sparing Initiative, aimed at reducing the number of opioid prescriptions.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Our
Lady of the Angels Hospital in Bogalusa, Louisiana.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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