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Ron Kind Secures Opioid Program Funding

Rep. Ron Kind has helped to secure $55 million towards funding programs in the Jason Simcacoski PROMISE Act during spending bill negotiations in Washington.

Kind is confident the initiatives in the PROMISE Act will begin to clean up the VA health system and beyond.

I'm hopeful that if we do this right, that the Tomah VA could become a model of care of proper pain management for our veterans that we can apply throughout the nation, including throughout the entire healthcare system.

Jason Simcacoski was a patient at the Tomah VA Medical Center, whose overprescription of painkillers and death brought large problems in the Tomah system to light.

Kind says he's encouraged by the changes he's seen in Tomah.

We have a new director in there now, Vicky Brahm, who has been doing an incredible job from my perspective with community outreach, outreach to the veterans and their families themselves, and implementing the reforms that are called for in our legislation.

Those reforms include an Opioid Safety Initiative for responsible painkiller prescriptions.

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