Tag Archives: drug

DHEC in the News: Recycling e-waste, a new emergency department, preventing Hepatitis C

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Keep Aiken Green: Know how to recycle e-waste in Aiken County

After birthdays and holidays, once new televisions, new PS4s, new Xbox Ones, new computers, new sound systems and more settle in, the old ones tend to be done away with.

But where those unwanted electronics actually go, according to the state health and environment department, is of utmost importance.

 Bluffton residents will soon have a shorter drive to an emergency room

In response to the Hardeeville area’s budding population, Coastal Carolina Hospital is moving forward with a plan to build a $15 million freestanding emergency department.

The proposed 10,000-square-foot facility will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will feature 12 private treatment areas, including one trauma treatment room.

General Interest

CDC says addiction treatment, syringe service programs are key in preventing spread of Hep C

During an infectious disease prevention webcast Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the key to preventing the spread of hepatitis C is greater access to prevention services.

The CDC said access to safe injection equipment and treatment for drug addiction can lower transmission risks by more than 70 percent.

DHEC in the News: Flu, opioids

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Flu activity no longer widespread in South Carolina after difficult season that has killed 201

Flu activity in South Carolina is considered to be regional, not widespread, for the first time since the flu began sweeping the state in the beginning of the year, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reported Wednesday.

Though influenza has been on the decline for a few weeks after a difficult season, the first week of March saw only 2,192 confirmed cases.

There were almost three times that amount the week before, with 6,332 cases.

DHEC report shows flu is slowing down in SC after 200 deaths

Over the course of what’s been an especially difficult flu season, there have been more than 200 deaths in South Carolina.

But a new flu report shows the flu is slowing down in our state.

ODPS preparing for opioids; city officers training to use Narcan

The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety is preparing its officers for the growing opioid problem, Chief Mike Adams said Tuesday.

“Drug overdose is currently the leading cause of accidental death in the United States with 62,497 lethal drug overdoses in 2016 for an average of one every eight and a half minutes,” Adams said.

“It took a while to get here to Orangeburg, but it’s here,” he said.

DHEC in the News: Opioids, beach access, the dangers of carbon monoxide

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

Opioid use by S.C. Medicaid recipients is down due to drug monitoring program, report says

The state’s prescription drug monitoring program is showing promising results in reducing opioid prescriptions written in South Carolina, according to a new University of South Carolina report.

USC researchers were contracted by the Department of Health and Human Services to analyze the effect of the state’s prescription drug monitoring program on Medicaid recipients’ opioid use.

Surfside Beach offering greater beach access to all

Surfing is a popular pastime in the town of Surfside Beach.

And now the town is working to make a prime surf spot more accessible for all visitors and residents who are disabled.

Preventable deaths: A Rock Hill woman’s mission to educate the public on dangers of carbon monoxide

It began with an upset stomach.

Jeannie Williams was in the bathroom in a Best Western hotel in Boone, N.C., where she and her 11-year-old son, Jeffrey, had checked in for the night. Jeffrey had finished showering and was already in bed. It was Jeannie’s turn to get ready for the night. It was supposed to be a short, overnight trip, and the two weren’t far from their home in Rock Hill.

But something had gone terribly wrong.  The mother and her son didn’t know that carbon monoxide — a deadly, odorless, colorless, tasteless gas — was seeping into their room from a pool water heater one floor below.

Cracking down on painkiller abuse

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By Jamie Shuster

pills

The CDC recently sounded the alarm on a growing epidemic in our country: the over-prescription of opioid painkillers. According to the CDC, American health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2012, enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.

From a public health perspective, this is a serious concern as higher prescribing of pain killers is associated with more overdoses and deaths. Here in South Carolina, 102 prescriptions for painkillers are now written for every 100 residents, and more than 200 people die each year from accidental prescription drug overdose. All of these deaths are avoidable. Most are caused because people are able to shop for painkillers by contacting multiple pharmacies and physicians to receive separate prescriptions for the same drug.

To combat the problem, DHEC is working with health care providers and pharmacists across the state to increase the number of prescribers utilizing our enhanced prescription monitoring program known as SCRIPTS. Run by our Bureau of Drug Control, this voluntary, online database makes it easier for South Carolina doctors and pharmacists to identify and report potential prescription drug abuse.

How does it work? Continue reading →