FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016
Contact: Leah C. Payne, Director of Public Affairs, Marshall University, 304-691-1713
                Bryan Chambers, Communications Director, City of Huntington, 304-696-5540

Health care and policy leaders to gather in Huntington for conference on opioid epidemic

HUNTINGTON, W.Va.— Several national speakers, including Anita Everett, M.D., chief medical officer for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, are scheduled to speak in Huntington on Tuesday, Dec. 13, for a conference on the region’s opioid epidemic.

West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, along with the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, the  City of Huntington and Marshall University, are sponsoring the day-long event scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall on the Marshall University campus.

Tickets for the event are $100 per person and include breakfast and lunch as well as all sessions. Preregistration is requested and may be accessed at www.wvahc.org. The event is open to all health care professionals, government leaders and those interested in combating the nation’s opioid epidemic.

“I’m pleased with the efforts of our community to collaboratively and aggressively address the problem of opiate addiction,” Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said. “I am looking forward to sharing our story with experts across the nation and learning from their experiences and research to bolster what we already have in place in Huntington.”

Others scheduled to speak at the conference include Audrey A. Klein, Ph.D., the executive director for the Butler Center for Research at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Teresa Carr with Consumer Reports and Topher Spiro, Vice President for the Health Policy Center for American Progress, as well as health care officials and researchers from Marshall University, the Cabell-Huntington Health Department and the state of West Virginia.

West Virginians for Affordable Health Care is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all West Virginians.

For more information, contact Terri Giles with the West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, at 681-265-9008.

###

Date Posted: Tuesday, December 6, 2016