U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R- Kansas, toured the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas, on Monday and talked about the need for resources to combat drug abuse and the need for changes to encourage organ transplants.
The Senate has been discussing the opioid crisis and Sen. Moran said there was an increasing number of persons who are at the KU emergency department as a result of drug overdose, including drugs other than opioids.
The security of the ER is important because of the increasing number of patients with drug overdoses.
“I want to make sure that I know what I can do to combat drug abuse, provide the necessary resources for treatment and care, and also to make certain the opportunities are there for treatment in the community,” Sen. Moran said.
This was an opportunity to learn about what is occurring in the ER here in an urban area, and make certain they’re doing the things necessary to combat drug abuse and create an opportunity for greater mental health services in Greater Kansas City.
Significant challenges are faced with the lack of beds for treatment of mental health in Kansas, he added.
Chris Ruder, chief operating officer, said there is a challenge of having enough beds currently for mental health. By adding an additional campus in the fall of 2019 at the Strawberry Hill campus, there will be an additional 47 adult beds, he said. By adding another 32 beds to the Marillac facility, there will be a total of84 child and adolescent beds on that campus, he said.
“We believe that will continue to help bridge the gap, although there’s a lot of work needed, not just in our ED, but across the continuum of care for behavioral health,” Ruder said.
Sen. Moran also discussed the transplant program, particularly as it relates to liver transplants.
He said he wants to make sure that decisions made in Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., are beneficial to this program.
“I want to make certain that every citizen of this region, Missouri and Kansas, have the opportunity when they need a transplant, to be able to obtain that transplant here at KU Health Systems,“ he said.
He said he wants to make sure in decisions made in Washington, D.C., that there is a reward for good behavior to increase the number of donors. He said the program here encourages organ donation and he wanted to make sure encouragement was rewarded.
“There is a movement afoot currently to take organs procured from this region, in Kansas City and Kansas in particular, and move them across the country,” Dr. Sean Kumer said. “That will decrease the transplants done here on our patients.”
That decreases access, he added, in communities like Kansas City. He said he is concerned with this movement going on, and the KU Health System wants to continue to procure organs and encourage those across the country to do the same.