Olufemi Olatunji, RN-BC, is a nurse at the Wilmington, Delaware, Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) who works with patients who have substance abuse issues. Olatunji focuses not only on his current patients, but on reaching out to those people who may need help but do not yet realize it.
When he learned about National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) back in 2010, he saw it as an excellent opportunity to educate people about alcohol use and abuse. Olatunji planned an NASD event to reach out to veterans who may need help, and to increase awareness about alcohol and alcohol abuse issues. Before the NASD event, he printed some customized Military Pathways fliers about the event and posted them around the hospital. He made sure to place the fliers in areas that saw a lot of traffic such as the primary care clinic, the outpatient clinics, and community-based (satellite) clinics as well.
This year’s event on April 5, 2012, was held at the main lobby of the VAMC. Some other workers such as the employee health nurse practitioner, health promotion and disease prevention program manager and the chief of volunteer services assisted Olatunji. Throughout the course of the day, they handed out brochures and water bottles with the web address of the online alcohol screening (www.drinkingiq.org) and answered any questions participants had about alcohol issues and the screenings. He and his co-workers took turns working the desk all day so that there was always someone there to talk with people who were looking for information.
“People want to know about the benefits of screening and how they can navigate the [screening] website,” Olatunji says. “The feedback has been very positive.”
In 2011, the Wilmington VAMC started an intensive outpatient treatment program (IOP) specifically for substance abuse, and Olatunji has seen quite an increase in enrollment since he started promoting NASD. The IOP has been so successful that it received Joint Commission on Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) certification in mid-2011, and got an outstanding rating from the group.
Olatunji, formerly a civilian RN, joined the USAFR Nurse Corps a year ago as a direct commission officer. Now that he has his own base from which to work, he decided to implement the NASD program at a drill at McGuire Air Force Base. He recently ran a very successful pilot program with his unit members and plans to expand it to more people on the base next year.
He is hopeful that the program will help contribute to reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues in the military, not just alcohol abuse. “A lot of people in the military do not come out in the open with a drinking problem because they are afraid they will be reprimanded,” he says.
“The program really does work, and a lot of people can be reached through the innovative programs at Military Pathways, especially the websites and posters,” he says.