Ben Botkin

Image

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visits with U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in a roundtable discussion in Portland about preventing youth overdoses from fentanyl. Bonamici is planning legislation that would make a prevention curriculum available nationwide in schools. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Oregon’s U.S. congressional delegation wants opioid prevention efforts to go nationwide

The Health and Human Services secretary visited Oregon on Friday and participated in a roundtable at a Beaverton school

Aug 8, 2023

Image

Chris Edwards (front left) and Saihou Suwaneh, two Oregon Department of Human Services workers, participate in a picket in front of the agency’s headquarters in Salem on March 9, 2023. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Oregon state caregivers ask Gov. Kotek to fire their boss

Department of Human Services workers who care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities say their workplaces are unsafe and that they’re burned out

Jul 25, 2023

Image

PIXABAY

Oregon lawmakers earmark millions for mental health and addiction services

The Legislature passed measures to provide more residential care, respond to people in crises and fight the opioid overdose epidemic

Jul 6, 2023

Image

The headquarters building in Salem of the Oregon Health Authority. | STATE OF OREGON

Audit: Oregon Health Authority mishandled hundreds of thousands in federal mental health money

Jun 19, 2023

Image

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. | COURTESY ELLEN ROSENBLUM

Rosenblum sues 3M, DuPont, others over environmental contamination

The suit claims their foam-based chemical products have been responsible for public health and environmental contamination in the state

Jun 1, 2023

Image

Multnomah County health workers get vaccinated on Jan. 13, 2021. | MOTOYA NAKAMURA/MULTNOMAH COUNTY

Oregon lifts COVID-19 vaccine requirements, other health measures as federal emergency ends

The state is asking people with COVID-19 to wait until one day after their fever breaks to be around other people instead of self-isolating for five days

May 10, 2023

Image

A box of Narcan, an-opioid reversing drug, before it was distributed at a day shelter in Ontario, Ore. on Oct. 13, 2022. | KYLE GREEN/THE LUND REPORT

Oregon Senate passes legislation to fight opioid overdoses

The bill would give patients with a history of opioid use increased access to overdose reversal medications when they leave care settings

Apr 18, 2023

Image

Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare walk-in clinic in Portland. | LYNNE TERRY/THE LUND REPORT

Oregon pays Medicaid mental health providers relatively well, OHSU study finds

The study indicates that the state’s mental health crisis is not entirely linked to poor payments by Medicaid

Apr 11, 2023

Image

Oregon State Hospital in Salem. | OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY

Kotek targets behavioral health system crisis – and plans ahead

As Kotek seeks more funding, the state also is working on a five-year plan

Mar 21, 2023

Image

Peer support specialists working for Malheur County offered Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug, to people stopping by a day shelter in Ontario on Oct. 13, 2022. | KYLE GREEN/THE LUND REPORT

Oregon Opioid Settlement Board approves $17 million to fight addiction crisis

The state will get an estimated $149.7 million through 2038

Mar 13, 2023