Like many areas in the Midwest, Ross County, Ohio is struggling to respond to a crisis of opioid addiction and overdoses. County officials there are trying a new, proactive approach: bringing drug interventions right to the doorstep of struggling addicts. 

A new task force has been formed to combat opioid abuse in the state. Earlier this month representatives of state agencies and advocates came together to announce the State of Illinois Opioid Action Plan.

Doctors who can prescribe a medication for opioid addiction, and accept Medicaid, are already scarce. But even fewer will treat pregnant women. At this most vulnerable time, when both mother’s and baby’s lives are at stake, some doctors even drop their patients.

Nurse Catherine “Bizz” Grimes moves like her name sounds: at a frenetic pace. She darts across the hall from the prenatal diagnosis clinic at Indiana University Health University Hospital in Indianapolis, sits down at her cubicle, puts on her headset over curly white blonde hair and starts dialing.

Last week, we introduced you to Jaime Smith, a mother of four from St. Joseph who is recovering from addiction to prescription pain killers and heroin. Recovery from opioid addiction is a difficult journey, but it’s sometimes even more difficult to begin.