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Local doctors get training necessary to prescribe opioid treatment


Local doctors get training necessary to prescribe opioid treatment
Local doctors get training necessary to prescribe opioid treatment
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SAN ANTONIO – Local doctors are working to give more people access to opioid treatment, and it all starts with giving doctors more access.

A drug called buprenorphine has shown a lot of promise with preventing relapse. But the Trouble Shooters learned to give it to patients, doctors need special training.

"I am the deputy medical director for San Antonio Fire Department,” says Dr. C.J. Winckler, who also works for UT Health San Antonio.

He supervises the team of paramedics who save people from overdoses.

"I'm here at this training today to learn about buprenorphine and how it could affect patients that are at risk and vulnerable to begin with, and sometimes don't enter the hospital system,” Dr. Winckler says.

Buprenorphine helps people quit opioids, and you don’t have to go to a special clinic for it like you would for methadone.

"A person gets a prescription that they fill at the pharmacy and take their medicines at home,” says Dr. Van King, an addiction specialist at UT Health San Antonio.

He says buprenorphine does come with a catch: to prescribe it, doctors need a waiver.

"It's a federal waiver through the DEA,” Dr. King explains.

The Trouble Shooters learned here in Texas, less than 2,500 doctors have that crucial waiver.

“Is that enough?” asks reporter Emily Baucum.

"No, no,” Dr. King responds. “And a lot of those doctors are concentrated in urban settings as well."

So UT Health San Antonio is holding dozens of free trainings across the state with the goal of helping 1,000 health care professionals get waivered.

(Click here to find out how health care professionals can sign up.)

"In the middle of this epidemic, a lot of our professional organizations are stepping up,” Dr. King says.

Take Dr. Wari Allison. She’s with UT Health San Antonio but wears a second hat.

"That's as medical director of the San Antonio Aids Foundation downtown,” Dr. Allison says.

She’s at the training to make sure if her patients are also struggling with opioids, she’s equipped to help.

"It's important to me as an infectious disease specialist to be able to provide care for my patients as much as I can within their medical home,” Dr. Allison says.

If buprenorphine could help you or someone you know fight opioid addiction, click here for a list of doctors who have that federal waiver to prescribe it.

By EMILY BAUCUM

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