Kenton County Detention Center KCDC CARA CAT 1

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) Program is the first major federal substance use disorder treatment and recovery legislation in 40 years and the most comprehensive effort to address the opioid epidemic. CARA establishes a comprehensive, coordinated, and balanced strategy through enhanced grant programs that expand prevention and education efforts while also promoting treatment and recovery. The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based program was developed as part of the CARA legislation signed into law on July 22, 2016. In FY 2017, the Overdose Outreach Projects will provide funding and technical assistance to units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to plan, develop, and implement comprehensive diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs that expand outreach, treatment, and recovery efforts to individuals impacted by the opioid epidemic who come into contact with the justice system. Funding may be used to connect survivors of a non-fatal overdose with treatment providers or a peer recovery coach in an emergency department; provide survivors of non-fatal overdoses, and their friends and family, with access to naloxone and other recovery support services; provide prioritized—ideally immediate—access to detox and treatment services; overdose prevention education and community outreach and engage a research partner to conduct action research providing skills and assistance in identifying performance measures, tracking measures to assist in the improvement of program implementation and fidelity, providing subject matter expertise and guidance.

The Kenton County Detention Center will reduce the prevalence of opioid abuse in Covington, Kentucky. In 2015, Northern Kentucky lost nearly five times more residents to drug overdoses than car accidents. This project proposes to address the issue by implementing the Kentucky Overdose Prevention and Education Project (KOPE), which has three main goals: to conduct an analysis of the severity of the opioid crisis, develop a multidisciplinary approach to address the need of overdose survivors, and implement strategies to identify and provide treatment to “high frequency” users of multiple systems that have a history of opioid misuse. This proposal will support naloxone distribution programs in the region. The Kenton County Detention Center will collaborate with local police departments, and healthcare and rehabilitation providers. Northern Kentucky University will serve as an action research partner.

CA/NCF