Aetna hosting Narcan opioid overdose rescue training Thursday June 13

Join Aetna and St. Louis County Detective Melody Quinn to learn how to administer the opioid overdose recovery drug Narcan from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Thursday, June 13, at the Aetna offices at 1285 Fern Ridge Parkway, Suite 200, St. Louis, MO 63141.

Detective Quinn will provide Narcan training to attendees and will also discuss Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine, and its increasing use in the St. Louis area.

AETNA ON THE FRONT LINES IN ST. LOUIS
Aetna hosted a Labor Forum on Opioid Health in March at SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 Union Hall and is committed to combatting Opioid Use Disorder with a multifaceted strategy focused on preventing prescription opioid misuse and addiction, intervening in at-risk behavior, and supporting members with access to treatment for addiction.

As the opioid crisis continues to claim lives and harm families and communities across the country, Aetna is seeing progress on stemming the tide of heroin and prescription painkiller misuse and abuse.

“It’s clear that Aetna is on the right path in working to help our members fight opioid misuse and abuse,” said Daniel Knecht, M.D., vice president of clinical strategy and policy. “We are constantly looking for additional ways in which we can positively impact this terrible epidemic and improve the health and lives of our members and, subsequently, their families and communities.”

Aetna is working to reduce inappropriate opioid prescribing to members by 50 percent by 2022. The company is also working to increase the percentage of members with chronic pain treated by non-opioid treatment alternatives and those using medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder both by 50 percent by 2022.

For more information on Aetna’s efforts, visit news.aetna.com/opioids.

Similarly, CVS Health, which merged with Aetna last year, has made a commitment to help address prescription opioid use disorder by designing programs to increase access to safe medication disposal, encourage appropriate utilization, educate patients and communities, expand access to life-saving overdose reversal agents, and support local recovery programs.

RESERVE YOUR SPACE
To attend the Narcan training, send your RSVP to your Aetna representative by Monday, June 10.