Addressing Overdoses in Monroe County Through OFR Creation, Research, and Tangible Solution Implementation

The Monroe County Research Strategy and Development (RSD) Division will create and implement a Monroe County Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Board with a fully embedded research team. The Monroe County OFR Board will be a multidisciplinary team including community-based organizations, law enforcement, medical examiners, educational institutions, health care systems, and other stakeholders. The Board will apply a collaborative approach to the review and analysis of selected fatal overdose cases in Monroe County and will provide recommendations to align and maximize resources across systems, identify potential prevention initiatives, and strengthen community access and understanding of treatment options. In conjunction, RSD will conduct research to evaluate and address findings from the OFR process. This analysis will be combined with other local data sources relating to substance overdose deaths, which will allow for a comprehensive county-wide approach utilizing scientific methodology to identify and better target effective interventions to support those most at risk.  
 
Project activities will include bringing together stakeholders with different perspectives and different data sets to improve public health and clinical practices; conducting case reviews, prioritizing real-time data collection analysis, and dissemination; sharing research findings on local opioid, stimulant and substance use trends within MC and providing an analysis of current substance misuse policies and interventions; and implementing a comprehensive plan to reduce the risk of overdose death and enhance treatment and recovery engagement through recommendations. Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), along with other research methods, strategies, and tools, will be utilized to ensure appropriate measures are implemented for representation of historically underserved and marginalized populations adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and/or victimization. Due to the County’s immigrant and deaf population, supplementary linguistic needs will be incorporated. Subrecipient activities include prevention implementation and harm reduction services with additional support and focus on those who have been identified as high-risk populations and/or have historically faced barriers accessing services.