by Dennis Dalman
Many people who hear about that “other” modern plague dubbed “opioid addiction” shake their heads in sad resignation, but there are two doctors in our midst who decided to do something about it and who are now considered pioneers in fighting the opioid crisis.
Those two doctors (Heather Bell and Kurt DeVine), who opened a clinic in Sartell, have just been named “Family Physicians of the Year” by the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians. The name of the Sartell clinic is Mend Recovery Services, located at 1908 Kruchten Court S. DeVine and Bell are co-directors of that clinic, which provides addiction care and primary family care.
Both doctors are lauded for bringing “grassroots care” to the people suffering in rural areas of Minnesota where urgently needed help is not readily available.
The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, which honored the two doctors as “Physicians of the Year” is the largest medical-specialty organization in the state and represents more than 3,100 family physicians and medical students. The organization promotes the growth and enrichment of family medicine – especially in rural areas of Minnesota.
Drs. DeVine and Bell are both family physicians for St. Gabriel’s Family Medical Center in Little Falls. Together, they launched the first Minnesota ECHO program (a video-conferencing education platform) that makes it possible for them to educate and mentor others about appropriate prescriptions for treating opioid-use disorders – in particular the use of a drug called buprenorphine.
In addition to their in-clinic work, DeVine and Bell are also co-medical directors for Mend Correctional Care, which provides medical care to incarcerated patients.
DeVine also serves as medical director of Augsburg Colleges’ Physician Assistant Program, and Bell co-chairs the Minnesota Perinatal Quality Coalition. Both doctors have served as preceptors/educators for the University of Minnesota’s Rural Physician Associate Program.
Bell and DeVine are alumni of the University of Minnesota Medical School and have participated in the Sioux Falls, S.D. Family Medicine Residency.
The award citations for Bell and DeVine are lavish with praises. Of Bell, the citation states: “As opioid use and related issues have increased, Bell identified whole-person care as the most appropriate approach for care of this population. Seeing a gap in care, she started using medication-assisted addiction treatment with buprenorphine as part of her primary-care practice.. Her leadership and perseverance are transforming her clinic, demonstrating success in both cost savings and patient-care outcome.”
DeVine’s award citation states, “He has practiced full-spectrum family medicine for more than 26 years. DeVine became involved with a local community task force assembled to address concerns of opioid use and dependency within his county.”
They are co-hosts of a podcast entitled “The Addiction Connection,” which has featured more than 60 episodes since March 2020, a series which besides addiction issues and treatments also featured enlightening information about the Covid-19 crisis.
“As rural family doctors, Drs. Bell and DeVine identified a care gap within their community around rising opioid use and related issues,” said Andrew Slattengren, president of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians. “In an effort to close this gap, they began using medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine and were able to demonstrate success in patient outcomes and cost savings.”
Opioids
An opioid is a compound that resembles pain-killing opium in its effects and its highly addictive nature.
In the late 1990s, many pharmaceutical companies gave assurances that opioid pain relievers would not cause serious addictions. That was untrue; they were – and are – in fact highly addictive. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2019, 70,630 Americans died because of opioid overdoses – many of the deaths in rural areas of the United States where poverty and lack of employment opportunities can send people into a downward emotional spiral and then to the use of drugs to self-medicate.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed on the basis of deceptive marketing practices, false reassurances of opioid safety and non-disclosure of a very real high risk of severe addiction.
The result of those lawsuits is that billions of dollars in settlements have been (and are being) paid by those pharmaceutical companies and others who wrongly touted opioids as safe and who thus caused opioids to be widely prescribed.
Dr. Heather Bell and Dr. Kurt DeVine, who opened an addiction and family care clinic in Sartell, have just been named the two “Minnesota Physicians of the Year” by the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians” They were lavished with praise for bringing family medicine to rural areas of Minnesota, as well as their pioneering, successful approaches to treating opioid addictions.
