Like Father, Like Son

Combating the region’s opiate crisis takes all of us. It takes policymakers and health care providers. It takes those in higher education and those in recovery. And in the Hansen family, it takes father and son.

Like most kids, Zach Hansen, M.D., grew up hearing how important it was to care for those in need. His father, Bob Hansen, a community leader in behavioral and mental health, and mother, Linda Hansen, a special education teacher for 32 years, practiced what they preached.

“I’ve always had that exposure to caring for those a little less fortunate than the rest of us,” said Zach Hansen, an ’04 graduate of the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and the medical director for PROACT (Provider Response Organization for Addiction Care & Treatment), a multidisciplinary recovery program. “Sometimes there’s a reluctance to talk about things like mental health, behavior health and physical disabilities. In our house, that wasn’t the case.”

Bob Hansen served as executive director of Prestera Center for 22 years, retiring in 2012. His retirement was short lived, however. Just days after retiring, Hansen was named executive director of the Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless. He was instrumental in the founding of Recovery Point, formerly the Healing Place of Huntington, and served briefly as its director also. In 2017, Hansen was named director of addiction services at Marshall Health and the School of Medicine. In December 2018, Gov. Jim Justice appointed him executive director of the DHHR Office of Drug Control Policy.

“I’ve really given retirement a bad name,” Hansen laughed. “But I’m blessed with good health, and I’m blessed with energy and passion to help my city and state. I’ve been excited about the different challenges I’ve been asked to take on.”

At Marshall, Bob Hansen helped develop the medical school’s approach to addiction science, which seeks to address not only the immediate health concerns of addiction but also the long-term ramifications.

“At Marshall, there’s a complete commitment to solving the problems of this community, and it starts at the top, from President Gilbert and Dean [Joseph I.] Shapiro all the way down,” Hansen said.

In the Office of Drug Control Policy, he’s taking the work that is being done in Huntington and at Marshall and applying it statewide, developing programs and services to address the substance use disorder epidemic throughout the state.

His decades of experience have made one thing clear: When it comes to combating the opiate crisis, Bob Hansen said, partnership is key.

“There’s no question that it takes everybody,” Hansen said. “It’s incredibly uplifting to see so many not only recognize that we’ve got a problem but also want to be involved in the solution. This problem has been going on for a number of years, and there’s an element of fatigue — but there’s also enthusiasm and passion. There’s tremendous hope.”

At PROACT, Zach Hansen sees that hope every day. In addition to serving as PROACT’s medical director, he oversees the center’s medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program. His career certainly bears a resemblance to his father’s; however, he said he never felt familial pressure to enter the field of addiction medicine. Making a difference just runs in the family.

“I always knew I wanted to make a difference,” he said. “That was something I saw in my parents every day, in the way they conducted their work and in the way they lived their lives.”

PROACT is both a place and a concept, Zach Hansen said, providing assessment, education, intervention and treatment solutions all under one roof. PROACT, formed in October 2018, is a partnership among Cabell Huntington Hospital, St. Mary’s Medical Center, Marshall Health, Thomas Health Systems and Valley Health.

Zach Hansen, who is also a family medicine physician with Valley Health, said what’s unique about PROACT is that providers from partnering organizations only work a few hours each week at the center, so no one individual carries the entire load. As a result, the center is able to offer a full range of services: MAT and abstinence-based treatment, spiritual care, recovery coaches, employment assistance and even help with things like housing, food and transportation.

“We all have particular strengths and things we’ve been doing well for years, and we’re able to tailor our programs drawing from those strengths,” he said.

He said PROACT started as an idea on a piece of scrap paper — and it wouldn’t have come to fruition without his father’s guidance and support.

“I was watching football with Dad one Sunday, and I got out this piece of paper where I had jotted down this idea that I really felt could make a significant difference,” Dr. Hansen recalled. “We talked through it, like we talk through everything.”

From there, Zach Hansen began seeking partnerships —­ “I took meetings with anyone who’d talk to me,” he said — and eventually the puzzle pieces fell into place. He said his wife, Dr. Rebecca Hansen, Marshall’s director of campus-based services for the West Virginia Autism Training Center, has supported him every step of the way as well.

“I’m so proud of Zach,” Bob Hansen said. “I get teary-eyed talking about it. We talk all the time — about work, about family, about ideas. I think we both share a sense of pride about the work that’s being done and the potential that we see for the future.”

Looking toward imminent challenges like generational substance abuse, polysubstance abuse and the substantial health concerns associated with IV drug use, both the older and younger Hansen agree that a spirit of partnership is vital to face those challenges head on.

“We’re certainly making progress. Overdose fatalities are declining, and we’re seeing positive results,” said Bob Hansen, adding a few words of fatherly wisdom. “But if we pat ourselves on the back, we should do it quickly, then put our nose back to the grindstone and keep working.”

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About the Author: Katherine Pyles is a freelance writer and editor living in Huntington, West Virginia.

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