The Opioid Epidemic
We are so proud to be working with game-changers, disrupters, and innovators from many areas within the medical community. People who want to develop products and solutions that positively affect as many lives as possible.
Dr. Ezekiel Fink is one of those people. He recently spoke at the Augusta Conference on the Opioid epidemic and is leading the charge to help curb the problem in Maine. More than 500 medical professionals attended to discuss the opioid crisis.
The statistics shared were shocking.
For example, research shows four in five heroin addicts started with legally prescribed medications. And, according to Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew, Maine leads the nation in the rate of long-acting opioid prescriptions, dispensing over 80 million pills in 2014.
Mayhew said that it has lead to an average of more than one person per day dying from an overdose.
Dr. Fink, a keynote speaker at the conference, is board certified in neurology, pain medicine, and brain injury medicine. He said: “It could be as simple as getting a routine injury, getting a prescription and then never getting off of it.”
Team Kablooe is currently helping Dr. Fink design and develop a game-changing surgical device. This is a huge, time-consuming task for him, in addition to his booming surgical practice, but it does not stop him from continuing work to improve lives in other areas.
Dr. Fink is widely published in the field of pain management and spends a substantial amount of time on policy including extensive expert review/educational work with the California Medical Board and Department of Justice.