High-powered Mat-Su summit takes on Alaska's opioid epidemic

WASILLA — An emotionally intense meeting last year between Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and a group of Alaskan women who struggled with addiction led to an opioid summit happening this week in Mat-Su that's drawing high-powered stakeholders, including the U.S. Surgeon General.

Sullivan met with the group in Washington, D.C., during a national rally on addiction in October. The women's at-times harrowing stories of heroin and painkiller addiction opened his eyes to the devastating consequences on addicts and loved ones, Sullivan said during a visit to Alaska Dispatch News offices last week.

"I certainly came into the Senate with certain background experience, things I wanted to be focused on. This wasn't on the list. I didn't even know much about it," said Sullivan, who was elected by Alaska voters in 2014. "It was probably the most impactful meeting that I've had since I've been a senator."

The "Alaska Wellness Summit: Conquering the Opioid Crisis" is the result of that meeting. The summit will gather some of the country's top health officials at Mat-Su College in Palmer from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

State officials say they hope some of the country's top health officials will get a look at Alaska's unique challenges dealing with opioid and heroin abuse given the state's rural expanses and lack of treatment even in urban areas.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is expected to attend. Murthy is scheduled to visit Providence Alaska Medical Center and Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, spokesman Jonathan Beeton said.

He's traveling to Bethel Wednesday, and then to the Kuskokwim River village of Napaskiak by boat.

The Bethel trip is part of the Surgeon General's Turn the Tide tour, which aims to educate prescribers and the public about the opioid epidemic and change cultural perceptions of addiction, Beeson said. Murthy plans to meet with officials at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp., as well as tribal and local officials, to discuss the opioid crisis in rural Alaska and the development of a new treatment center in Bethel.

Dr. Mary Wakefield, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is also expected to attend the Mat-Su summit, as are two high-level Veterans Health Administration officials, several Alaska officials, and Gloria O'Neill, president and CEO of Cook Inlet Tribal Council.

A number of the women who met with Sullivan also plan to be there, including Kara Nelson, Terria Walters, Christina Love, Kim Whitaker and Julee Douglas.

Federal officials will discover the particular challenges Alaska faces in dealing with what's become a national crisis by talking to the women, Sullivan staffers say. Many advocates point to the near-total lack of detoxification facilities in Alaska as well as limited opioid treatment options.

But the summit is also meant to educate family members and other caregivers looking for ways to help addicts in their lives.

Deaths from heroin in Alaska increased from seven in 2009 to 36 last year, according to state data. The number of fatal overdoses from prescription opioids was far higher: 83 deaths last year, although that statistic is declined from 104 deaths in 2009.

The new federal Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act is expected to give states access to grant programs to expand prevention and education efforts while also promoting treatment and recovery, officials say.

Alaska's heroin problem adds to the stories of overdose being told around the country. But the state's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jay Butler said Alaska has "its own unique properties, including the remoteness of many parts of the state."

The lack of managed health care outside the tribal health system is another difference, as is the tribal health care system itself, which "actually provides some particular strengths and opportunities to address the opioid epidemic," Butler said.

The summit could give Alaskan officials the chance to highlight some issues not under state control, such as expanding the authority for providers who can write prescriptions for medically assisted treatment, he said.

State officials also hope to address funding shortages and lack of access to treatment, Butler said.

"Detox is not readily available in many places and even in our urban areas there are not enough treatment beds available," he said.