City of Huntington Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program: Overdose Outreach Projects

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.

This project will address the opioid crisis in the City of Huntington, West Virginia by implementing a community quick response team (QRT) that will include medical care providers, law enforcement, and recovery and treatment providers along with research partners. This multidisciplinary team will strive towards a significant reduction in the number of overdoses with an emphasis on the recurrent cases. Federal funds will be used to assess project participants' needs and assess their capabilities and preferences in order to determine appropriate plans for intervention, which includes, but is not limited to, provision of access to recovery and treatment services. Community capacity and cohesion will be fostered by engaging and educating those communities that have been disproportionately affected by the crisis in substance abuse, mental health, treatment and recovery service awareness. The overall target through the collaborative efforts of the QRT is to decrease the number of overdoses by at least 20% annually and the number of recurrent overdoses by 40% annually. The Marshall University Department of Public Health will serve as an action research partner.

CA/NCF