{"id":121450,"date":"2019-08-17T08:05:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-17T13:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=121450"},"modified":"2019-08-19T08:03:30","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T13:03:30","slug":"latta-holds-opioid-discussion-with-van-wert-health-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/08\/17\/latta-holds-opioid-discussion-with-van-wert-health-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Latta holds opioid discussion at hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Representative Bob Latta was in Van Wert on Friday to talk with Van Wert Health personnel about the opioid crisis and how well federal legislation aimed at providing assistance has been working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. Representative Bob Latta is shown at WERT\/WKSD Radio in Van Wert on Friday.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Latta noted that one of the House committees he\u2019s on, the Energy and Commerce Committee, passed 65 pieces of legislation last year dealing with the opioid situation. One of those bills was Latta\u2019s INFO Act, which provides healthcare entities a way to get information on what is being done to stem the crisis, as well as where to get dollars to help treat those addicted to opioids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congressman said the discussion Friday morning at the hospital went well, in his opinion, with hospital officials being candid about what is working and what isn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to know is it working, and what do we need to do differently?\u201d Latta explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing hospital officials say is still needed is where to find dollars to help fund opioid initiatives, he noted. \u201cAnd are the dollars flowing out like they should be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another problem is treatment, Latta noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce a person is ready to get treatment, are there enough treatment beds?\u201d he said, adding that, right now, there aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can’t treat people at the ER, and try to detox them there,\u201d Latta said, noting that more treatment beds need to be found or created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion at the hospital also touched on finding non-opioid pain management medications and providing patients with better information on pain and how to cope with pain with less medication, including the fact that it\u2019s acceptable to have some pain after a procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Latta noted that drug overdoses were down in 2018, from more than 4,800 in 2017 to more than 3,700 last year, but he said that was still \u201cway too many\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latta has also been talked to farmers about this year\u2019s planting problems — a situation he said many farmers characterize as the worst in memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis area, northwest and west central Ohio, is the epicenter of the problem,\u201d in Ohio, he said, noting that not only are farmers affected, but all of the agribusiness industry — seed dealers, implement dealers, grain elevators, and others — are taking a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latta said he has been talking to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine about efforts to obtain a federal disaster declaration for affected areas, and also discussed the situation with a top U.S. Agriculture Department official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another area the congressman said he has been working on is eliminating robocalls. Noting that there are an estimated 50 billion robocalls made every year in this country, Latta said Congress is working to come up with workable solutions to the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congressman said people he has talked to have been asking why they still get robocalls when they signed up for the No Call program. Latta said that the program does not work for \u201cbad guys\u201d who don\u2019t follow the program guidelines, which includes a large number of calls coming from India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latta said Congress is working on ways to provide consumers with ways to discover when they\u2019re receiving a robocall, while some cell phone carriers are also working on doing the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a trip to Defiance for a hospital discussion similar to the one he held here in Van Wert, Latta said he is also going to participate in the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers in northwest Ohio this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latta said he is also looking forward to returning for the Van Wert County Fair later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor U.S. Representative Bob Latta was in Van Wert on Friday to talk with Van Wert Health personnel about the opioid crisis and how well federal legislation aimed at providing assistance has been working. Latta noted that one of the House committees he\u2019s on, the Energy and Commerce Committee, passed 65 pieces of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 04:01:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}