Reprint of: Assessment of a naloxone distribution plan in a veteran population who experienced an opioid-related overdose event.

Background: The Veteran Health Administration prioritizes the distribution of naloxone to veterans diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) to prevent deaths due to opioid-related overdose. The Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) program was created with tools to supplement efforts in identifying veterans at risk of opioid-related adverse events secondary to OUD or other comorbidities and increase access, education, and distribution of naloxone. Utilizing the OEND tool, Veteran Health Indiana (VHI) employed two different distribution initiatives to increase access to naloxone.

Assessment of a naloxone distribution plan in a veteran population who experienced an opioid-related overdose event.

Background: The Veteran Health Administration prioritizes the distribution of naloxone to veterans diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) to prevent deaths due to opioid-related overdose. The Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) program was created with tools to supplement efforts in identifying veterans at risk of opioid-related adverse events secondary to OUD or other comorbidities and increase access, education, and distribution of naloxone. Utilizing the OEND tool, Veteran Health Indiana (VHI) employed two different distribution initiatives to increase access to naloxone.

Assessment of an education tool to improve knowledge and reduce stigma of a syringe service program (SSP) at a VA Medical Center.

Background: Drug overdose deaths are a growing epidemic in the United States owing in part to inadequate support from health care systems. In response, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) plans to implement syringe service programs (SSPs) across VHA medical centers. This SSP education project aims to positively affect health care staff perceptions regarding SSPs and reduce the stigma surrounding substance use.

Exceptionally preserved North American Paleogene metatherians: adaptations and discovery of a major gap in the opossum fossil record.

A major gap in our knowledge of the evolution of marsupial mammals concerns the Paleogene of the northern continents, a critical time and place to link the early history of metatherians in Asia and North America with the more recent diversification in South America and Australia. We studied new exceptionally well-preserved partial skeletons of the Early Oligocene fossil Herpetotherium from the White River Formation in Wyoming, which allowed us to test the relationships of this taxon and examine its adaptations. Herpetotheriidae, with a fossil record extending from the Cretaceous to the Miocene, has traditionally been allied with opossums (Didelphidae) based on fragmentary material, mainly dentitions.