Almost daily, reports of opioid misuse and overdose make the news as the opioid crisis continues to effect more lives. In the past few months, studies and research have provided new information about the effectiveness of opioids and the rising toll of the opioid epidemic. For the first time since 1963, the average life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped two years in a row , due in large part to increases in opioid overdose.

A government-funded study has shown that after a year of treatment, opioids weren’t any better than common painkillers . The study measured improving pain related to daily functioning, such as ability to sleep and work. In fact, opioids were slightly worse at controlling pain intensity but had more side effects. While opioids are good at treating acute pain, they are less effective for chronic pain.

A Workers’ Compensation Research Institute study has linked long-term opioid use with later return to work for injured workers . For work-related, nonsurgical, lower-back injuries, long-term opioid prescriptions tripled time away from work in comparison to claims without a prescription.

Other research has shown a 30 percent increase in emergency room visits nationwide due to opioid overdose. Within the Midwest, there was a 70 percent rise. The economic cost of the opioid crisis has exceeded $1 trillion since 2001 . Much of the cost comes from lost wages, lost productivity and health care costs. This doesn’t account for the emotional costs to individuals with opioid addictions, as well as their families and loved ones.

SFM’s commitment to reducing opioid use

In 2014, SFM determined that the increasing long-term opioid use by injured workers was a vital public health issue. SFM began reviewing older claims with long-term opioid use in high doses and recommending alternatives to opioids for newer claims. To aid in this, SFM hired Gail Pravatiner, an experienced drug review nurse. Pravatiner reviews claims, communicates with physicians and injured workers and manages medications for high-risk claimants.

Long-term opioid treatment parameters support Pravatiner in her efforts. In July 2015, Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry published treatment parameters addressing opioid use long term. In March 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published guidelines that supported the minimum effective dose and assessed the efficacy of treatment plans that involve opioids.

Both the treatment parameters and CDC guidelines determined that physicians should recommend non-opioid treatment first. If opioids are prescribed, there should be an evaluation of the risk of harm or misuse. When necessary, they should yield not only a substantial improvement in pain but also an increase in function.

After tracking opioid use from July 2015 to July 2017, SFM found that 66 percent of cases with high opioid use either have decreased the dosage or have stopped using opioids completely. Pravatiner believes that this is due in part to the increasing public awareness of the opioid epidemic and to the education she and SFM provide to injured workers and prescribers.

Do you have employees who aren’t fluent in the English language, or are more comfortable with another language?

SFM offers a number of resources to help keep these employees safe and assist if they are injured, including:

• Claims process explanation
  SFM offers a Spanish version of its video for injured workers . The video provides a simple explanation of the claim process so that injured employees know what to expect.
• Injury reporting
  The SFM Work Injury Hotline offers interpreters for more than 200 languages.
• Claims questions
  For Spanish-speaking injured employees who need to ask questions about their claims, SFM offers a Spanish-language message line. They can call (800) 922-5246 and leave a message with their name, telephone number, employer’s name and question to receive a call back with an answer in Spanish. Claims representatives also have the ability to speak to injured workers in numerous languages using a live translation service.
• Posters and forms
  We offer Spanish-language versions of important workplace posters and forms in the resource catalog. Just search for the term “Spanish” to see everything available.
• Safety handouts
  A number of our 5-Minute Solution safety talks have been translated into Spanish, on topics such as electrical power tools , excavation and trenching and slips, trips and falls .
• Safety videos
  Our most popular safety videos are also available in Spanish. They cover topics such as preventing winter slips and falls, lifting properly and avoiding falls in kitchen environments. See our Spanish language video playlist on YouTube to see what’s available.

We are continuing to add resources in other languages. If you have a need, please let us know by filling out our contact form.

SFM employees recently heard the inspiring story of a man who not only overcame a tragic accident that cost him both legs, but used the experience to help others.

Aaron Holm, founder of Wiggle Your Toes, a nonprofit that helps amputees, spoke at the company’s all-employee meeting in October.

Simple gesture leads to serious injury

His story starts on a cold January morning in 2007.

He got a call from his administrative assistant to say she was stuck on the side of Interstate 394 with a flat tire, and help was on the way. Fifteen minutes later, she called again to say her help was called to an emergency and wasn’t coming.

Holm drove out to pick her up, and figured he’d take a few minutes to change the tire while he was there, so that she could get her car to a repair shop. While working on the car, he was hit from behind by a vehicle traveling 55 mph.

Despite the severity of his injuries he was clear-headed enough to coach his assistant, who was in shock, through calling an ambulance.

Family and friends spring to action

As he lay in the hospital in the hours after the accident, Holm remembers thinking about his wife and three young children, and wondering how he’d go on to live a normal life again.

“I had no idea what the rest of my life looked like,” he said.

It didn’t take long before Holm, his family and friends sprang into action to find answers.

Within 24 hours of the accident, they divided into project teams that developed strategies to help him return to a normal, productive life.

“Within 48 hours of my injury, my house was being basically torn apart,” he said. “Ramps were being built, stair lifts were being put in,” and he was able to return home about 10 days after his accident.

Throughout his recovery, Holm found creative ways to speed up his progress. He used a liquid bandage product on his legs before going into physical therapy so that the prosthetics wouldn’t tear his skin and delay future sessions. He installed parallel bars in his basement so he could get in extra practice. He used golfing as a way to learn to walk on his prosthetics.

“My kids motivated me,” he said. “They were not slowing down and I couldn’t either.”

Holm starts hearing from others who lost limbs

He was able to return to his job at an engineering and IT staffing company, and his recovery had been so successful that he was getting calls asking for help from family members and friends of people who’d suffered similar injuries.

One such call led Holm to visit a man in the hospital who had lost both legs to the strep virus.

He’d been hospitalized for six months and was due to be released in a week.

He asked the man’s wife, “What have you done to your house so that he can get in?”

She’d been so busy taking care of their three kids, working full time and visiting her husband in the hospital, it had never occurred to her to start working on home modifications.

Holm was able to make a few calls and get a ramp installed within a day. At that point, he realized he wanted to do more to help people like her. That’s when he decided to quit his job to start Wiggle Your Toes.

Wiggle Your Toes is formed

Holm founded Wiggle Your Toes in December of 2008 to help those who have lost limbs. The organization helps those individuals in their recovery and rehab efforts by assisting with things like home remodeling, getting prosthetics or working with insurers.

In one example, the organization was invited by the Boston Medical Center two days after the Boston Marathon bombing to work with the individuals who had lost limbs in the incident. Most of them are doing well now, he said.

“To this day, we’re great friends,” he said. “We’ve had many of them up here in Minneapolis speaking at our events.”

Holm has also been invited to speak about the organization at the next South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

In addition to his work with the organization, Holm also now works for Ottobock, the manufacturer of his prosthetics, as director of customer engagement. He heads the company’s U.S. Paralympic Committee and he manages the company’s partnerships with other groups like Wiggle Your Toes. He also visits Washington D.C. to educate legislators about prosthetics.

Looking back, Holm says he’s amazed by how far he’s come and what he’s been able to be part of.

“I never would have imagined,” he said, “laying on the side of the road or laying in my hospital bed that I would be telling my story as a success story.”