Pictured (L-R): St. Anthony President and CEO, Allen Anderson; Iowa Attorney General, Brenna Bird; Goldfinch Health COO, John Greenwood; and St. Anthony Chief of Surgery, Dr. Mark Abraham.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined medical leaders at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll Tuesday afternoon as another Iowa hospital makes the “Billion Pill Pledge” to combat the prevalence of prescription opioid abuse in rural Iowa. The pledge began with Goldfinch Health, a surgery and recovery advisory firm cofounded by Iowan John Greenwood. Nearly three billion opioid painkillers are left in medicine cabinets nationwide annually, and Greenwood says the goal is to reduce that figure by a billion pills per year through alternative pain management modalities. Bird says a staggering number of Iowans’ first exposure to opioids is after surgery.
Dr. Mark Abraham, St. Anthony Regional Hospital’s Chief of Surgery, says the medical industry has relied on narcotics as its primary tool for pain management for too long, and it will take a concerted effort by doctors and surgeons to transition to alternative methods.
Greenwood, who also serves as Goldfinch Health’s COO, says drug companies misled the nation and medical industry about the efficacy and dangers of opioids, and the impact of widespread and highly-addictive narcotics is felt by Iowans daily. In 2021, nearly 110,000 Americans, including 470 Iowans, died of opioid abuse. Increased access to naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug, has helped reduce the number of deaths. Greenwood says it only treats the symptom, while the Billion Pill Pledge addresses the root cause.
St. Anthony Regional Hospital joins a handful of other Iowa hospitals to take the Billion Pill Pledge, including facilities in Floyd Valley, LeMars, Manchester, and Cherokee. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is contributing $1.2 million from the state’s multi-million dollar settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors to fund this and other similar endeavors to combat substance abuse. Learn more at www.billionpillpledge.com.
