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BCMS ALLIANCE

The Alliance
Helps Combat
Addiction and
the Unfolding
Opioid Epidemic

By Lori Boies, 2017 BCMS Alliance President

In June 2016, Jennifer Lewis (2016 BCMSA President) I came back from Chicago resolved to make a difference in our
and I attended the AMA Alliance Annual meeting in San Antonio community, but I was baffled about where to start.
Chicago. That meeting was one of the most impactful Al- How could we make an impact on such a large problem? When the
liance meetings I had ever attended. The AMA Alliance has opportunity to partner with Sisters in Sobriety to provide Alcoholics
a goal to increase awareness of opioid addiction and, in turn, Anonymous literature, free of charge, to doctors’ offices surfaced,
combat this growing problem in our society. Jennifer and I Chairperson Kelly King and I ran with it. While it is not opioid ad-
sat in on informative panels of healthcare professionals, diction literature, it gives us an opportunity to combat a similar, and
members of law enforcement, and other pertinent individu- also very prevalent, issue in our community. I highly encourage you
als in the field. We were enthralled by the riveting talk of to contact Kelly King (KellyMKing@gmail.com) to receive informa-
Sam Quinones who authored, “Dreamland: The True Tale tion on how to get FREE Alcoholics Anonymous literature racks for
of America's Opiate Epidemic.” (I found this book to be in- your clinic’s waiting room. This free information will help save lives.
credibly amazing, and it will be the Alliance’s book for May
book club). We sat in shock and sadness as a fellow AMA Alliance Additionally, if you have ideas on how the Alliance can partner
member stood up and told the story of how she lost her beloved son with our community to make an impact in opioid addiction, please
to opioid addiction. The entire experience was eye-opening, educa- do not hesitate to contact me (BCMSAlliance@BCMS-Alliance.org).
tional, and heart-breaking.
The Alliance looks forward to providing this free resource to our
As the wife to an anesthesiologist and pain management physician, BCMS Physicians!
the issues I was aware of in the periphery finally sunk in. My hus-
band, Brian, was a pain medicine fellow when hydrocodone, one of
the most commonly prescribed opioid pain medications in the U.S.,
was changed from schedule III to II, meaning it had to be written
on a special prescription pad and could no longer be called into a
pharmacy, effectively making it more difficult to prescribe. Many pa-
tients were referred to his clinic specifically for hydrocodone contin-
uation, even when not indicated. I heard him complain about the
opioid epidemic and how it was a problem, but I was naïve to the
fact of how widespread it truly was — how it could so innocently
start and take anyone, even those in the medical family.

*Our Centennial Year* www.bcmsalliance.org www.facebook.com/BCMSAlliance.org
34 San Antonio Medicine • April 2017