substance abuse

With Oregon’s mental healthcare system under the microscope, several community-based organizations are hoping new approaches to old problems will create changes.

November 8, 2012 – There’s a very high preponderance of people on the Oregon Health Plan who have a mental health or substance abuse problem, according to Mary Monnat, president and CEO of LifeWorks NW. In the Portland metropolitan area, such problems affect 70 percent of that population.

July 27, 2012 -- The Curry County Public Health Department is trying to make a difference in improving the health of newborn babies. Statewide, of the 45,596 babies born, approximately 6.3 percent had a low birth weight. Although those numbers were considerably lower in Curry County -- only seven out of the 180 babies born that year had a low birth weight – Jan Kaplan, director of Curry County Public Health, believes that figure is still too high. “We want to keep those trends where they are, but it can always be improved.”