Community task force tackles drug problems

For years, a doctor watched patients who entered her care suffering from drug addiction or its effects walk out the hospital doors. She wondered how long it would be before they returned.

Dr. Kristin Veneman is a neonatologist at Kalispell Regional Healthcare, and in her three years on staff, she said she has seen mothers-to-be living in tents or cars with no way to provide for their babies.

She has seen infants whisked away moments after birth to be treated for drug addiction and withdrawals. She treated several of the same familiar faces again and again when they could not shake the grip of addiction.

At the start of her third year at the hospital, Veneman decided she’d seen enough.

“We are going to lose generations if we don’t do something,” Veneman said.

Together with a group of women from different backgrounds, she began planning an organization that would fight the epidemic of drug addiction in Kalispell. In March 2016, the Flathead Valley Community Drug Task Force was born.

The project began with five women: Mindy Fuzesy, a neonatal intensive care nurse; Amber Norbeck, a pediatric pharmacist; Lisa Smith, a social worker; Jessie Blanc, a social worker; and Veneman.

These women, on top of their full-time jobs, banded together, investing their own time and money in a mission to provide comprehensive treatment and boost prevention and awareness of the Flathead Valley’s drug problems.

According to Fuzesy, the task force was created as a coalition of interdisciplinary forces that would allow them to pool resources and see different problems from more points of view.

Norbeck said the main goal of the drug task force is to get more people treatment; however, the group said they soon realized that the treatment options available to addicts were not enough.

The group began offering sexually transmitted disease testing, job search support and easier access to birth control.

“If they can’t meet their basic needs, treatment can’t be effective,” Norbeck said.

TODAY, THE task force includes health care professionals from various backgrounds, law enforcement agents from a range of departments, educators and more.

As a result of their collective effort, the task force has hosted numerous events in the year since its inception.

“Spring into Safety” was created as an awareness prevention program aimed at school-aged children. “Born Drug Free” is a campaign encouraging awareness and safety precautions for families, and specifically mothers, whose children may be at risk of drug exposure. “Drug Take-back Day” collected 70 pounds of leftover medication in four hours, removing it from the community.

The task force provides methadone detox treatments, lock boxes to keep children out of medications, and an incentive-learning program for parents to learn while earning diapers, clothing and other essentials for their new babies.

According to Smith, the group also supports law enforcement in trying to create a drug court in Flathead County.

“Usually criminals relapse,” Smith said. “Drug court could mandate treatment of drug users.”

The organization is also pushing for more legislation that would aid the mission.

Norbeck said the lack of resources that addicts and the organization currently face prevents their goals and efforts from reaching full potential.

She believes the health care system and law enforcement need to work together to strike at the heart of the problem.

“Neither side is doing anything to treat the addiction, which is the root of all evil,” Norbeck said.

Fuzesy agreed.

“We see the same thing again and again,” Fuzesy said. “It’s a cycle.”

Veneman said that more than 30 percent of the babies admitted to the NICU are suffering from withdrawals. She said she had seen at least one case in the last year of a child dying from overdose after getting into a medicine cabinet.

As the drug task force celebrates is first anniversary this month, Veneman said the work is only beginning.

For more information on the Flathead Valley Community Drug Task Force, visit https://www.facebook.com/FVCDT or http://www.borndrugfreemt.com.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.