Camille Zalar, BSN, RN, CARN, FIAAN

Camille Zalar, BSN, RN, CARN, FIAAN is the director of education and initiatives for the Northeast Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium at the Center for Health Affairs, based in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a passion to help those in need and is grateful to work for The Center for Health affairs, a regional hospital association established in 1916, whose mission is to impact the health of the community in which it serves. Camille works for member services, a non-profit division of the Center. She oversees the strategic plan for the NE Ohio Hospital Opioid Consortium (Opioid Consortium). A hospital-based physician-led collaborative whose members include the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, The MetroHealth System, the VA of Northeast Ohio and the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and Northern Ohio.

Camille directs the mission of the Opioid Consortium to significantly reduce the impact of the opioid epidemic in NE Ohio by sharing and implementing evidence-based practices, promoting policy changes, and increasing prevention efforts. The program also concentrates on communication, education & patient management, harm reduction, treatment, data and health policy. She spearheads the nurse education subcommittee to develop and deliver comprehensive substance use disorder education for nurses and healthcare support staff. Training focused on the screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) model followed by nursing interventions and treatment options; caring for medically complex patients with co-occurring disorders; and managing difficult conversations. In 2020, over 3,000 nurses engaged in the SUD education and over 5,600 CEs have been delivered to NE Ohio nurses.

Camille received her master’s degree in health administration from Ohio University, and her BSN from Kent State University Ashtabula.

She is a certified addictions registered nurse (CARN), with nearly two decades of experience as a clinical nurse working in inpatient and residential treatment for those diagnosed with a substance use disorder. She’s held administration positions, as director of nursing operations, quality, patient experience, and education at Glenbeigh, a 188-bed hospital.

Camille is a member US Attorney’s Heroin and Opiate Task Force Health Policy and Treatment Subcommittee; Cuyahoga County Opiate Task Force; the International Nurses Society on Addictions (IntNSA); Greater Cleveland Organization for Nursing Leaders (GCONL); Ohio Nurses Association (ONA); the American Nurses Association (ANA); Fellow of the International Academy of Addictions Nursing (FIAAN); and board member of the Ashtabula County Mental Health and Recover Services Board.