2022 -- H 7882

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LC004439

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN

SERVICES (EOHHS) TO CREATE A COVID-19 SURGE PLAN FOR HANDLING THE

INCREASING NEED FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES AND SUBSTANCE USE

DISORDER TREATMENTS

     Introduced By: Representatives Tanzi, Felix, McGaw, Shanley, Cassar, Donovan,
Ajello, Batista, Ranglin-Vassell, and Kislak

     Date Introduced: March 04, 2022

     Referred To: House Health & Human Services

     WHEREAS, The stated mission of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services

(EOHHS) is to ensure access to high quality and cost effective services that foster the health,

safety, and independence of all Rhode Islanders; and

     WHEREAS, In October of 2020, the Rhode Island Department of Health's (RIDOH)

Office of State Medical Examiners (OSME) released data indicating a sharp increase in

accidental drug overdose deaths during the first seven months of 2020 with an increase of 26

percent in all fatal drug overdoses, a 33 percent increase in opioid-involved fatal overdoses, and

more drug overdoses occurring in May of 2021 than in any other month since the tracking of this

data began. This trend progressed and intensified through 2021, as the months of COVID-19

continued; and

     WHEREAS, According to the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental

Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH), as of November of 2020, there had been a 15 to 20 percent

increase in calls from people seeking "some form of help, whether they're seeking professional

help, or they're just seeking peers to talk to, or they just want someone to talk to because they are

anxious and stressed"; and

     WHEREAS, The stressors and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated

mental health conditions, and barriers to accessing necessary care by those in need of care or

already using these services, have left many Rhode Islanders without the treatments and services

they desperately need; and

     WHEREAS, The Director of the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine at Hasbro

Children's Hospital, has stated that he has witnessed "a massive pandemic of mentally ill

adolescents," many of them admitted to Hasbro Children's Hospital; and

     WHEREAS, In addition, many of our country's and State's veterans are struggling with

their mental health due to increasing economic, social and financial impacts from the COVID-19

pandemic and require specific mental health support during the country's recovery; and

     WHEREAS, Access to mental health support is essential in sustaining long-term recovery

for Rhode Islanders negatively impacted and coping with the numerous mental health challenges

of the COVID-19 crisis; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

respectfully requests EOHHS to create a COVID-19 surge plan for handling the increasing need

for behavioral health services and substance use disorder treatments; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this House hereby requests EOHHS to submit the surge plan to the

House on or before June 30, 2022; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Governor of the State of Rhode Island and

Womazetta Jones, Secretary, Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

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LC004439

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