12 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY march 30-april 5, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com In the anxiety over the never-ending war on drugs, one opioid called buprenorphine was caught up in the fervor, severely restricting its availability. This, despite the drug’s ability to stop the pain of withdrawal, save people from overdoses and help them regain stability in their lives. In December, Congress loosened restrictions, and just four months later, on April 1, paramedics in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties will have the ability to administer buprenorphine to patients suffering from the pain of withdrawal in the field—the first region in California to have that ability. “I’m excited to make people feel better so they don’t feel so awful,” says Rachel Kneeland, a paramedic and the clinical education supervisor for American Medical Response, the ambulance contractor for Monterey County. Kneeland says the patients they encounter in opioid withdrawal are in a lot of pain, and moving forward she and other AMR paramedics in the tri-county region will be able to relieve that pain using “bupe,” as it’s been nicknamed, in the field after communicating with doctors. Dr. Reb Close, an emergency physician at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and co-founder of Prescribe Safe, an initiative to curb drug use, led the charge in bringing buprenorphine to the region after Contra Costa County was the first county in California to train paramedics to use it. Close says patients in withdrawal will no longer have to wait for pain relief while being transported to an emergency room. “Withdrawal is agony. Leaving someone in agony for 10 minutes when you have a safe and effective treatment like this, I can’t follow that thought process,” Close says. The drug works by tightly binding to opioid receptors in the brain, partially activating the receptors, but not fully, and in the process blocking other opioids from getting to the receptors. “It has a sealing effect. It’s just a wild medicine,” Close says. It’s been successfully used for years to help people stop using other dangerous opioids. Another benefit is that it prevents people from overdosing on another opioid like fentanyl, says Dr. Casey Grover, also a CHOMP emergency physician, a co-founder of Prescribe Safe and Close’s husband. He says parents of children with opioid use disorder are grateful. “They know if their child is on it they’re not going to have an overdose,” he says. Kneeland says all 170 people in AMR’s regional workforce have been trained to use the drugs, including emergency medical technicians, who cannot administer it themselves but can assist paramedics. All seven regional hospitals are on board, and each has substance abuse experts who will refer patients for treatment. officials—its staff is not. And in written communications in 2021, since-retired Coastal Commission planner Mike Watson made quite clear that, as approved, the SURF! project is not compliant with the Coastal Act. Precisely, his words were: “not approvable.” Among other things, the Coastal Commission has asked for documentation on mitigations for impacts on sensitive habitat, and for alternatives to the project as proposed. To date, it has yet to receive either, but Sedoryk says his agency will be submitting a coastal development permit application to the Coastal Commission by Friday, March 31. Both Sedoryk and Lisa Rheinheimer, MST’s assistant general manager, say that all of those concerns will be addressed in the application. Much of the project area is within the scope of Marina or Sand City—both of which have Coastal Commissionapproved local coastal plans, which allows the cities to approve coastal permits—but there is a part of it outside of both, so Sedoryk says MST will apply directly to the Coastal Commission first, as approvals—or denials— from either city could be appealed. “The Coastal Commission seems logically to be the place for us to go to first get that determination,” Sedoryk says, adding that the process is the “most complicated and most intensive” of the three applications. And while the Coastal Commission has yet to see any of the work MST has been doing to address Coastal Act concerns, both Sedoryk and Rheinheimer say a team of consultants—engineers, planners, scientists—have been working for several months to address them. Sedoryk says that Coastal Commission staff can take a “narrow” view regarding impacts on sensitive habitat, but he’s hopeful that the commissioners take “a broader view of things like equity or access.” Rheinheimer adds that she hopes the commissioners will determine “on the balance” that the positive impacts of the project—like, theoretically, reducing greenhouse gas emissions— will outweigh whatever negative impacts there may be on habitat. The fate of the project, which is budgeted at $66 million and is fully funded, will ultimately come down to what the 12 voting members of the Coastal Commission decide. Pain Relief Regional paramedics lead the way in using an old drug that offers new hope. By Pam Marino news Dialect Delegates Are you interested in becoming an interpreter, or wanting to help your community get access to information? Centro Binacional Para El Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño is looking for bilingual and trilingual people who are fluent in Indigenous languages. They are looking for speakers of Mixteco, Triqui, Zapoteco, Tlapaneco, Chatino, Amuzgo and more. Learn more at this virtual meeting. 5:30 Friday, March 31. Call (559) 499-1178 for the Zoom link. administration@centrobinacional.org, centrobinacional.org. Save the Oaks Help Monterey County forests combat Sudden Oak Death (SOD), threatening the survival of tanoak and several oak species in California. The SOD Blitz Survey Project informs the community about the disease and gets locals involved in identifying it. Attend a training online, then participate in a local survey effort. 10am Saturday, April 1-noon Tuesday, April 4. Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, 4860 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel. Free. kfrangioso@ucdavis.edu, bit.ly/SODBlitz2023. Water Rights The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District is preparing to make an offer to acquire California American Water’s system on the Monterey Peninsula. The district holds a public presentation and Q&A session to reveal the valuation, discuss the methods used, and review public benefits. It is expected that an offer to purchase the system will be made to Cal Am on or about the same time. 5:30pm Monday, April 3. Monterey City Hall, 580 Pacific St., Monterey. Free. 658-5650. mpwmd.net. Fireworks Season The city of Seaside is accepting applications for the sale of safe and sane fireworks. Seaside-based nonprofit groups can submit their applications and the required documents to the Seaside Fire Department. Deadline 4pm Friday, April 28. Seaside Fire Department, 1635 Broadway Ave., Seaside. Free. 899-6791, bit.ly/ SeasideFireworkSale2023. Storm Relief With evacuation orders lifted in Pajaro, the county has closed temporary shelters. A local assistance center is now in operation to provide information about storm recovery resources. 9am-7pm daily until at least Friday, April 7. Veterans Memorial Hall, 215 E. Beach St., Watsonville. Free. Call 211 for more; co.monterey.ca.us. Rachel Kneeland has worked 15 years as a paramedic, most of them in Monterey County. She’s excited to be able to offer pain relief to patients experiencing opioid withdrawal. e-mail: publiccitizen@mcweekly.com TOOLBOX “Withdrawal is agony.” Daniel Dreifuss Waves, continued from page 10
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