Nation’s first opioid helpline receives more than 1,000 calls in Arizona

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Health Services and the Poison and Drug Information Centers of Arizona launched the nation’s first opioid helpline in March.

Since then, the Arizona Opioid Assistance and Referral Line (888-688-4222) has received 1,166 calls.

The helpline, operated by the Banner Poison Drug and Information Center and the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, is free and available 24/7 to opioid users, caregivers and prescribers.

Callers are connected with physicians, nurses, pharmacists and genetic counselors who can provide patient-specific consultations.

The medical professionals can answer questions and provide resources on anything opioid-related, including safe prescribing limits, potentially dangerous drug combinations, withdrawal and referrals to treatment centers.

A free 24/7 hotline to help #providers with complex patients with pain & opioid use disorders, answered by medical experts at the Poison and Drug Information Centers in #AZ, call 1-888-688-4222 or https://t.co/o46QeqjTeA pic.twitter.com/76VREBBEY5

— CenterForRuralHealth (@UACRH) September 4, 2018

Daniel E. Brooks, medical director at Banner Poison and Drug Information Center, said that while the helpline is doing good work, it needs to be advertised more.

“We’re hoping that once it’s publicized by different entities in Arizona, it will be getting more calls,” Brooks told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.

He said he wants to make sure that all areas of the state are being helped.

“Obviously most of the population of Arizona is in larger cities … but we’re trying to reach out to the smaller counties as well because opiate-related injuries and death occur all over the state, just like all over the country,” Brooks said.

This helpline initiative stemmed from the Opioid Epidemic Act that Gov. Doug Ducey signed in January.

It was passed in an effort to combat the 1,700 suspected opioid deaths and 11,200 suspected opioid overdoses that the health department has recorded since June 2017.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Nailea Leon contributed to this report. 

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