Nurse practitioners from across Arkansas met at the Pine Bluff Convention Center on Friday to continue the fight against opioid abuse.
“I think the main thing is that we need to be aware of the problem,” said Leonie DeClerk, Ph.D., outgoing president of the Arkansas Nurse Practitioner Association, which hosted the forum Tackling the Opioid Crisis in Arkansas: Continuing the Conversation. “We need to know that it’s an issue that concerns everyone in the state. It’s not just a prescriber or provider issue. It’s an everyone issue, but we need to be very careful when we are selective and we initiate opioids we don’t get on that rocky road toward addiction, and also we need to make sure we have good ways of supporting patients who’ve had substance use disorder.”
The daylong forum built on the momentum from state Attorney General Tim Griffin’s announcement of his One Pill Can Kill campaign Tuesday at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Griffin’s office provided funding for the ANPA forum.
“We just tried to reach out to all nursing students and nurse practitioners across the state,” said Katrena Gordon, Region 2 director for the ANPA. “SEARK (Southeast Arkansas College) nursing students were among the ones who answered the call, but this is really open to everyone, so we have nurse practitioners from all over the state.”
An afternoon panel featured Daren Bolen, whose brother Cameron died in April of a drug overdose at age 37. Cameron had battled addiction for 20 years, Daren said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Daren Bolen began his presentation by reading out loud his brother’s obituary, which reads in part: “The healthy Cameron was smart, funny and full of life. He went by many names, including Cam, Kunka, Cotton, Bolen, Bam and Carmilita Rosita. Those close to him will remember his tender heart and his unique ability to put a smile on anyone’s face.”
Those who knew Cameron wouldn’t know that he was fighting for his life daily, Daren Bolen said. Daren added that he did not get to talk to his brother for three years before his death.
“I don’t want to make anything I say take away any responsibility from Cameron,” Daren told attendees, including some of his family members. “I wish we had more support and better understanding.”
How to support families facing similar crises is what Daren Bolen hoped to take away from the conference.
“At this point, we can’t bring Cameron back, but we’re trying to figure out how to be more involved and bring awareness to the families who are struggling who don’t know what to do,” he said. “We’re in the process of following where the resources are, and we’re trying to get the message out there.”
Tom Fisher, an overdose response strategy analyst appointed in 2023 by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders as Arkansas drug director, released statistics related to Arkansas’ fight against opioid overdose. Arkansas experienced an 85% increase in overdose deaths from 2019 (268) to 2021 (495), but since then has seen a 21% drop to 391 in 2024.
The percentage of opioids identified as fentanyl rose from 60% in 2019 to 84% in 2021 and 2023, but dropped to 70% in 2024. The percentage of fentanyl and methamphetamine fatalities dropped from 22% in 2023 to 15% in 2024. Although meth-only fatalities rose from 45% in 2023 to 54% in 2024, fentanyl-only deaths dropped from 55% to 31% during that time.
“That decline is significant in our fentanyl-involved deaths,” Fisher said. “It’s also possible for me to wonder what that incline in methamphetamine is, because in different age groups you’re going to see that population affect it more than others.”
