Visiting Nurse’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ann Moore, along with Allen County Health Commissioner Dr. Deborah McMahan and Captain Kevin Hunter of the Fort Wayne Police Department’s Vice and Narcotics division, will be presenting at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)’s 2019 Leadership and Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C. on April 14.

Their presentation, “Substance Abuse: A Leader’s Primer,” will include information on how hospice and palliative care leaders can address issues that arise with substance use disorder in patients and families. These healthcare workers will learn how to identify risk management, readiness and responsiveness strategies and develop and prioritize an action plan to address issues of substance abuse, regardless of the form they take.The presentation stems from Visiting Nurse’s speaker series “Everyone’s Epidemic,” which has tackled the myriad issues surrounding substance use disorder and the opioid epidemic. There are two more events in the series, on April 23 and May 16:

April 23, 2019: “Sharing My Healing Pathway”
Featuring: Dr. Carolyn Greer, Andrea Schroeder, David Wust. Family members and addiction experts will discuss the impact of substance use disorder on families and share ways to cope with this disease and its affects on loved ones.

May 16, 2019: “Signs of Substance Use Disorder in Children and Family Members”
Featuring: Captain Kevin Hunter of Fort Wayne Police Department Vice and Narcotics Division, who will help families learn what to look for if substance use is suspected in a loved one.