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Rep. Stauber Meets with Officials to Discuss Opioid Crisis, Rural Healthcare

June 17, 2019

The opioid crisis, and rural healthcare are topics that are impacting us here in the Northland. On Monday, Rep. Pete Stauber was in the Northland speaking with officials about these topics.

Stauber was joined by Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric Hargan and Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Censky.

One of their trips was to Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet. Stauber says this was in an effort to emphasize to his staff that rural healthcare matters.

Stauber says hospitals like Community Memorial face different challenges than those in the Metro area. He says deploying rural broadband across the nation will help those rural hospitals stay competitive.

Stauber also says this event helps his staff gather feedback from hospital staff that they can then take back to Washington D.C.

"My goal is to make sure that the cabinet secretaries understand the concerns, and then bring those to our discussion in D.C. to be able to make the investment in rural hospitals," said Stauber.

Stauber also engaged in a roundtable discussion with local law enforcement officials regarding the opioid crisis. There, he gathered local law enforcement perspective on the opioid crisis. The goal was to figure out where the drugs are coming from, so he can work on prevention efforts in Washington D.C.

Stauber also met with local elected and economic development officials to discuss regional agriculture and healthcare issues. The goal of that was to discuss how the federal government can help local communities prosper.

Issues:Health