Public Health

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday said the presidential opioid commission's inaction is prolonging the nation's opioid epidemic, according to the New York Daily News.

About 184 million opioid painkillers were distributed across the Cherokee Nation's 14 counties in northeast Oklahoma from 2015 through 2016, according to data compiled by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Richmond Va.-based Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center evacuated staff and informed patients of cancellations after a serious sewage leak seeped into the basement where medical equipment is sterilized, according to NBC 12.

Rural Americans wait nearly twice as long for emergency medical service personnel to arrive at the scene of an emergency than individuals in urban or suburban areas, according to a research letter published in JAMA Surgery.

The fear of being arrested sometimes deters individuals from calling 911 after administering naloxone to someone experiencing an opioid overdose, suggests a survey conducted by researchers from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed 11 special session bills designed to combat the state's opioid epidemic at three separate ceremonial events Monday.

CVS Health pledged $250,000 to the Woonsocket, R.I.-based Community Care Alliance to help launch an opioid abuse treatment center in Woonsocket, according to the American Pharmacist Association.

Gov. Eric Greitens, a former Democrat turned Republican, signed an executive order on Monday directing the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to create prescription drug monitoring database to curb opioid overprescribing.

Investigators believe a 10-year-old Miami boy may have overdosed and died after inadvertently coming into contact with the extremely potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to the Miami Herald.

Lake Forest (Ill.) Hospital, part of Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, reopened at 5 a.m. Tuesday after closing on the evening of July 12 due flooding and loss of power.