Mass General Puts Spotlight On Racial Inequities

MA General Hospital:Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will join millions of people across America in recognizing National Recovery Month. Led by the MGH Substance Use Disorders Initiative (SUDs) - a program developed to transform care for substance use disorder and improve the quality, accessibility and clinical outcomes of those with the chronic condition – this month-long celebration will include an event series addressing a range of issues related these conditions.

Events will begin with the official kick-off on Sept. 10 – featuring Josiah “Jody” Rich, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights and professor of Medicine at Brown Medical School in Providence and Devin Reaves, MSW, CRS, founder and executive director of the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Coalition. The kick off will highlight racial inequities in the ongoing drug overdose crisis and the intersecting epidemic of mass incarceration. Calling attention to how the narrative of the overdose crisis has predominantly focused on white Americans, these experts will explore the ways in which structural and systemic racism has influenced drug policy and our responses to addiction. Historic lack of awareness to racial inequities in drug policy and substance use disorder treatment has resulted in a de facto system that focuses on treatment for white people and criminal punishment for black and Latinx people. This harmful approach has resulted in a system of mass incarceration, which has disproportionately impacted black and Latinx communities and dramatically increased the risk of overdose death.

This has been a growing area of focus for the MGH SUDs Initiative over the last year after receiving a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to work with the Suffolk Country Sherriff’s Department on increasing access to medication for opioid use disorder for people recently released from incarceration.

“As a community, we have made significant advances in our approach to substance use disorder care, yet pervasive and persistent racial inequities continue to affect our societal policies and limit our patients’ access to life-saving care,” said Sarah Wakeman, MD, of the MGH Substance Use Disorders Initiative. “Recovery Month is opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come and to highlight how much more there is to do in the health care space, legal system and community.”

Highlighted Events

• Kick-off: Sept 10 at 12 p.m. Bulfinch tent
• Trainings on nasal naloxone (Narcan) to reverse opioid overdose: Sept 12 at 1 p.m., Sept 16 at 11 a.m., Sept 19 at 2 p.m.
• Monday, Sept. 16 at 8 a.m.: MGH employees, patients and community members will participate in the MOAR & Friends Statewide Recovery Day March and Celebration coordinated by the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR). Participants will meet at the in the MGH East Garden Room walk to City Hall Plaza for a rally.
• Wednesday Sept. 18 at 12 p.m.: James McKowen, PhD, of the Addiction Recovery Management Service (ARMS) will discuss interventions for parents of youth with substance use disorder to support engagement in treatment and manage challenging behaviors in “Parenting youth with substance use disorders: A discussion of interventions to guide parents.”
• Thursday Sept. 19 at 12 p.m.: John Kelly, PhD, of the Recovery Research Institute will talk about the prevalence, pathways, and predictors of long-term recovery on the United States.

Complete information about MGH Recovery Month events is available online at www.massgeneral.org/recovery-month.