News: Loss of friend to gun violence spurred Urban Community Health Worker of the Year to help others

First Alert 4 | By Pat Pratt
Published March 29, 2024

“Often, Henderson said, his role in the community is not an easy one. He commended his fellow healthcare workers, saying the job is not for everyone and takes patience, persistence, and consistency.

“For those who are CHWs, I commend you with my utmost respect,” Henderson said. “Let’s continue to build our communities and help the members of the community prosper.”’

News: As opioid overdose crisis continues, millions in settlement money arrives in Missouri

Fox 2 News | By Emily Manley
Published November 14, 2023

“Put equality at the forefront when we’re making funding decisions about which communities are getting access to which resources and not just doing a uniform approach but really making it needs-based,” Winograd said. “We have huge racial inequalities in overdose deaths. Specifically, Black men in Missouri are more than three times as likely to die of an overdose than the rest of the population. We have absolutely left Black Missourians behind when it comes to our investments in prevention treatments.”

For Immediate Release: Improving Access to Naloxone in St. Louis in Public Housing

Published Aug 21, 2023

News: Substance users fall through the cracks as overdose epidemic rolls on

KMOV | By Matt Woods
Published July 10, 2023

“Access for Black clients has not expanded nearly as much as it has for white people,” Winograd said. “And when Black people do get engaged in care, they are not retained nearly as long by our treatment providers for this region.” Winograd referred to “care deserts” in north St. Louis where there is less access to treatment than surrounding areas.

News: Advocates frustrated by lack of action one year after mass overdose at St. Louis high-rise

St. Louis Post Dispatch | By Jesse Bogan
Published February 7, 2023

“We thought there would be some momentum for at least ground zero of the event to be a wake-up call,” said Rachel Winograd, co-director of the state opioid response grant. “We can have all the money in the world for naloxone, but if people won’t accept it, then it can’t do any good.”

For Immediate Release: CENTER Initiative Remembers Parkview One Year Later: Further Action Needed

Published Feb 5, 2023

News: Has Anything Changed Since St. Louis' Deadliest Mass Overdose?

Riverfront Times | By Mike Fitzgerald
Published January 31, 2023

This time around, however, a bracing new awareness is informing the war on opioids. It’s the recognition that the vast majority of substance abuse stems from untreated trauma and mental health problems.

“The bottom line is people in pain will seek relief even if it kills them,” Yancey says. “Or even kill themselves if it means not to hurt again. The genesis is pain. The genesis is trauma.”

News: St. Louis combats opioid crisis as overdose deaths skyrocket among Black Americans

PBS NewsHour | By John Yang & Mike Fritz
Published August 16, 2022

Dr. Kanika Cunningham: “In 2020 and 2021, we lost over 400 Black men, over a two-year span. We lost more people to overdoses than to COVID-19. This is a civil rights issue. It's a human rights issue that we need to change. It's a chronic disease. And we have stigmatized a chronic disease.”

News: Lawmakers move toward legalizing needle exchange

St. Louis Post Dispatch | By Grace Zokovitch
Published April 20, 2022

“There is no single solution to this opioid crisis,” [Dr. Winograd] said. “What we need is a robust ecosystem where we have services that address people no matter where they’re at in various stages of drug use and recovery.”

News: Black opioid overdose deaths in St. Louis are up 500% in 6 years

St. Louis Public Radio | By Danny Wicentowski
Published April 13, 2022

“The increases in death among Black St. Louisans continue to rise disproportionate to those of non-Black St. Louisans,” said Devin Banks, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at UMSL. “I think it is beyond time for us to really focus and be intentional about our efforts, because our people are dying. Our Black people are dying.”

News: Missouri's fentanyl crisis is worsening, but patients can't get treatment for substance abuse

St. Louis Public Radio | By Alex Smith
Published April 5, 2022

Dr. Kanika Cunningham, who focuses on recovery for Black residents in St. Louis, say such steps from the state are welcome but overdue.

“Unfortunately, it took for this pandemic on top of this to really exacerbate this, I guess, for some people to see that this has been an urgency for years,” Cunningham said.

Black communities in Missouri are bearing much of the brunt of fentanyl. As of 2019, Missouri had the third highest Black overdose rate in the country, while the rate for white residents dropped below the national average.

For Immediate Release: CENTER Initiative Urges Increased Investment in Wake of Recent Overdose Deaths

Published Feb 11, 2022