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\u201cPower of Putnam is the coalition serving Putnam County, TN,\u201d said Coalition Director Bill Gibson<\/strong>. \u201cWe are located in Cookeville, which is also the home of Tennessee Technological University. We collaborate with the university on many projects.\u00a0 As direct prescriptions got more difficult to obtain and people were seeking other access points, we learned that \u2018vet shopping\u2019 was becoming a potential problem in\u00a0our region.\u00a0 Many controlled substances which humans misuse are also prescribed for animals (opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines, etc). Those seeking access this way will reportedly take an animal to numerous veterinarian offices seeking a prescription. There are media accounts of people actually hurting an animal to have a greater likelihood of getting the meds. To further complicate things, there\u00a0are reports of overdose because of people\u00a0thinking they can take more because of the relative weight.\u00a0(If my dog weighs 40 pounds and I weigh 200, I can take 5 of these) when actually animals have a faster metabolism and are often prescribed larger doses than a human of equal weight would receive.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn late 2019, the team designed a plan to reach out to around 20 vets and vet techs in our area to gather data, assess the problem, increase awareness and provide them with resources to address it,\u201d said Gibson. \u201cResources would include training, office signage, patient agreements, medication warning stickers, home lockboxes to give pet owners, technical assistance and developing a plan for when they encountered a suspicious situation, including a network where they would warn other offices. We also appointed an advisory committee of vets to keep us informed going forward. In January 2020 we received a foundation grant from the AmerisourceBergen Foundation to fund our implementation plan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPart of this is a COVID-19 adaptation success story,\u201d said Gibson. \u201cBy March, we had engaged several local offices and had good participation.\u00a0When we could not do live training and meetings and had to minimize live contact, we had to take things virtual.\u00a0We developed a five-module online training utilizing the significant resources of the university.\u00a0The training was approved by the state veterinary\u00a0board\u00a0for two (free) hours of continuing education and the State Vet Association endorsed it and advertised it. Between October, when the course went live and December, 180 vets and techs all across TN had registered for the training and by the end\u00a0of the year around 140 had completed it.\u00a0Adapting to COVID-19 multiplied project reach from 20 regionally to 180 statewide and set up further expansion possibilities. The course also\u00a0includes a Narcan training, some general information on addiction and recovery and an exit survey.\u00a0Upon completion, a free overdose reversal kit and other resources are made available.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe next step was to make this training available\u00a0to prevention and recovery specialists for two purposes,\u201d said Gibson. \u201cWe did this to promote a better understanding of the problem in our profession and to provide resources for coalitions that might want to implement a similar community outreach for their own local vet offices. The TN Certification Board approved it for two training hours for prevention specialists. That part of this project is just rolling out and we thought an article in Coalitions Online might help get the word out to coalitions that might be interested in doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe received second year funding and are in the process of updating the course, organizing the statewide advisory committee and approaching the vet boards in the eight states that surround Tennessee to approve the course for continuing education credits,\u201d said Gibson. \u201cWe also hope to find coalitions in these states that are interested in assistance\u00a0in doing this in their regions and states.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n