Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Follow-Up: Addressing the Substance Use Crisis

In a recent blog post, I discussed the findings of our Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which highlighted several critical recurring areas of concern. 

To quickly recap, they include: 

• Behavioral Health: Addressing mental health and substance use disorders. 
• Physical Health: Tackling issues such as obesity, chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, and cancer. 
• Access to Care: Removing barriers that prevent people from meeting their health needs. 

Today, I want to focus more specifically on the “behavioral health” area, particularly the substance use crisis. This is weighing on my mind because I am reflecting on an article published in The New York Times in late May that echoes the findings from our CHNA that substance use disorders remain a key concern in our community. The NYT article highlighted the situation in Baltimore as particularly dire, with nearly 6,000 lives lost to drug overdoses in the past six years, driven primarily by the synthetic opioid fentanyl. This overdose death rate is nearly double that of any other large American city during the same period, underscoring the urgent need for action. 

According to the article, despite early efforts to combat the opioid crisis – including widespread distribution of Narcan and innovative treatment programs – these initiatives have not been maintained at the necessary scale due to competing priorities and resource constraints. Given what we learned from our CHNA as well as what national data shows, it is important that we, alongside all our community partners and leaders, renew our commitment to addressing this public health emergency. 

While GBMC alone cannot fix the problem, we look forward to being part of the solution as our community health leaders all come together to address it. Our health system has taken steps to make behavioral health services more accessible to our people. For example, through our partnership with Sheppard Pratt, we have integrated behavioral health services into our advanced primary care model, ensuring that our patients receive comprehensive care that addresses both physical and mental health needs. 

This continued crisis is a reminder of the importance of sustained effort and resource allocation in tackling issues like this. Working together, we can make significant strides in reducing substance use and improving the overall health and well-being of our community.