Improving the Monongalia County Quick Response Team Through Data Driven Approaches

Monongalia County Health Department is submitting a proposal for a BJA
grant under Subcategory 1B of COSSUP. The proposed project service area includes all of
Monongalia County. This encompasses urban and rural areas where community concerns include
resident struggles with substance use disorder (SUD), access to treatment options, and stigma
surrounding these issues. In 2019, Monongalia County was found to have the fifth highest
frequency of overdose deaths in the state, with 71% of these deaths involving opioids. The
county was one of five awarded a grant in 2019 by the West Virginia Department of Health and
Human Resources to develop a Quick Response Team (QRT). The goal of that funding was to
reduce the numbers of unintentional opioid overdose deaths and increase the numbers of
individuals participating in treatment and rehabilitation. QRT is comprised of emergency
medical services, 911, law enforcement, Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSS), public
health officials, social service providers, faith-based organizations, and local pharmacies. The
main goals of this proposed project are consistent with COSSUP’s goals to reduce the impact of
the use and misuse of opioids, stimulants, and other substances on individuals and communities,
including a reduction in the number of overdose fatalities, as well as to mitigate the impacts on
crime victims by supporting comprehensive, collaborative initiatives. This project will be split up
into three parts over the course of the three-year grant period. Year 1: Hire data analyst; data
analyst will help to define goals and objectives then find data that supports those goals and
objectives. Work with community partners to identify different data sources that exist. Complete
literature review to look at other approaches and initiatives that exist. Focus on reaching out to
other programs to better understand their work, how they measure success, and if they have been
successful. If there are services and approaches that we do not offer, we will work to implement
these into our QRT by year 2. Year 2: Data analyst will create the process to get the data and
start the process of analyzing data. We will implement a more robust data collection process as
well as implement approaches identified in year 1. If approaches cannot be implemented right
away, we will create a mechanism to implement them in later years or determine why they
cannot be implemented. Year 3: Evaluation of the process to determine if we are we making
data driven decisions and if we are we making an impact.