Washington, DC, August 1, 2022 — The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the voice of the country’s nearly 3,000 local health departments, announced funding and technical assistance to fifteen sites as part of its Implementing Overdose Response Strategies at the Local Level (IOPSLL) program. The awards, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be used to increase the capacity of local health departments’ response to the overdose crisis.
The IOPSLL program supports the implementation or expansion of programs that prevent substance use disorders or overdose in communities and populations of focus. Awardees will use evidence-based and evidence-informed approaches to reduce overdose-related harms in their respective jurisdictions. The awarded sites are:
1. Pima County Health Department (AZ)
2. City and County of San Francisco - SF Department of Public Health (CA)
3. Onondaga County (NY)
4. Oneida County (NY)
5. Knox County Health Department (TN)
6. Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County (TN)
7. Public Health - Seattle & King County (WA)
8. City of Milwaukee Health Department (WI)
9. Baltimore City Health Department (MD)
10. New Bedford Health Department (MA)
11. Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (MA)
12. Toledo-Lucas Health Department (OH)
13. Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (CO)
1. Pima County Health Department (AZ) $441,023. Together We Rise: Community Partnerships to Reduce Overdose is an evidence and data-driven approach toward reducing overdose fatalities among high-risk populations. This project responds to the need for time-critical dissemination of risk data to community members and provides additional support for the development of cross-sectional agency partnerships. Pima County Health Department’s goal is to support existing community strengths while working toward lowering overdose disparities faced by high-risk populations, including African American and Native American communities.
2. City and County of San Francisco - SF Department of Public Health (CA) $500,000. The San Francisco Department of Public Health and its Behavioral Health Services program will support an innovative, three-part program designed to significantly reduce the growing crisis of opioid overdose and opioid overdose fatalities in San Francisco. These initiatives include developing an opioid overdose and treatment dashboard, working with hospital-based emergency departments, and launching a mobile community drug checking program in San Francisco. These three integrated initiatives will build upon local resources and partnerships to strengthen the city’s response to the opioid overdose emergency while developing new prevention models that can be replicated on a state and national basis.
3. Onondaga County (NY) $500,000. The Onondaga County project will work across several strategies to provide a comprehensive, community-based response to significant increases in overdose deaths. To achieve program objectives, Onondaga County Health Department proposes a coordinated array of activities including transition planning for individuals leaving incarceration, operating a mobile secondary syringe exchange, connecting individuals presenting to the emergency department to treatment, enhancing community reporting strategies, engaging local first responders to participate in naloxone leave behind efforts, targeting distribution of naloxone and installing nalox-boxes, expanding evidence-based school programs in high risk areas that improve resilience, and promoting anti-stigma messaging.
4. Oneida County (NY) $496,693. The project will facilitate linkage to low-threshold services (approach that attempts to remove as many barriers to treatment as possible) and other wraparound services using peer recovery specialists in mobile outreach and at a local Syringe Exchange Program. Outreach will be targeted in high overdose areas identified using the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) with social and economic disparities. During on-site and mobile street outreach, peers will assist in connecting people who use drugs to the range of services that address the social determinants of health. This project will also include a media campaign and training opportunities to address stigma and enhance training opportunities for peers.
5. Knox County Health Department (TN) $449,999. Knox County Health Department (KCHD) proposes to expand linkages to care through post-overdose response and harm reduction navigation, as well as to expand outreach to minority populations with harm reduction education. KCHD will address stigma against people who use drugs with a community campaign and strengthen data-sharing between public health and public safety using the ODMAP application. KCHD will work with partners to provide housing support to people who use drugs in early recovery. The overall goal is to prevent future overdoses.
6. Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County (TN) $497,631. Davidson County, Tennessee is disproportionately impacted by the drug overdose epidemic. On behalf of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, the Metro Public Health Department (MPHD) recognizes that historically underserved and racial and ethnic barriers led to health disparities and inequities. MPHD is partnering with the African American Faith Community and Coptic Faith Community to reach its most vulnerable and marginalized within their communities. The “Community Overdose Prevention and Empowerment” project will deploy community health educators and enhance surveillance though surveys and listening sessions, so authentic community voice is incorporated in overdose prevention strategies, messaging, and materials.
7. Public Health - Seattle & King County (WA) $500,000. Public Health Seattle & King County proposes several data-driven, community-centered approaches to prevent overdose at the local level, including: 1) organizing a council of people who use drugs to advise prevention activities; 2) co-developing targeted, culturally-specific prevention workshops in a “train-the-trainer” model with community agencies representing high-risk populations; 3) maintaining a successful fentanyl awareness media campaign; and 4) reaching out to overdose survivors and the social networks of fatal overdose victims to offer supportive services. Activities will result in decreased overdose mortality, narrowed health disparities, and decreased costs associated with substance use.
8. City of Milwaukee Health Department (WI) $500,000. The Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative (MORI) is a functioning overdose prevention partnership with a comprehensive OD response plan. The primary goal of MORI is to decrease the number of repeated overdoses per victim through relationship building and guided access to available resources and treatment. The outcomes of sustaining the MORI program include comprehensive support for overdose victims and their families. MORI will attempt to provide linkage to treatment and recovery services to 100% of all overdose survivors engaged by the MORI team.
9. Baltimore City Health Department (MD) $348,122. Baltimore City Health Department will purchase and place harm reduction vending machines at two selected locations in Baltimore. The vending machines will be placed in neighborhoods most impacted by overdoses and will address various health and wellness needs for Baltimore’s most vulnerable residents such as clean needles, fentanyl test strips, naloxone, wound care kits, and other needed supplies. Community education will be developed and deployed to increase the knowledge and awareness of these new resources. Additionally, syringe drop boxes will be placed throughout the city to facilitate proper disposal and public safety. Baltimore City Health Department will also develop and implement the #StoptheStigma media campaign and partner with local celebrities to help promote the campaign.
10. New Bedford Health Department (MA) $499,426.74. The New Bedford Health Department will facilitate community partnerships and coordination of activities to reduce overdoses in Bristol County. The Substance Abuse Relief Foundation (SARF) will hire a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) to conduct outreach, engagement, and dissemination of supplies and information to individuals seeking services post overdose. The Fairhaven Police Department will also hire a CPRS. They will also work with partners to expand the reach of the MeB4Use media campaign to all of Bristol County. The Bristol County Regional Alliance will be reconvened, and meetings will be regularized. The alliance will work to plan and execute a conference to bring together regional stakeholders to discuss current and future work to alleviate the harms of overdose.
11. Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (MA) $499,985.31. Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (PHIWM) will implement several multi-lingual media campaigns to reduce stigma towards people who use drugs among the public and the medical provider community. PHIWM will also develop a suite of harm reduction resources that can be distributed to patients in the emergency department. CPRS will also be present in the emergency department to provide follow up support and care coordination. PHIWM will also work with partners to implement “train-the-trainer” workshops for naloxone administration. Trained community members would then provide training on naloxone administration in several underserved rural communities. PHIWM will work with partners to centralize, simplify, and standardize overdose data collection and sharing to improve outreach and referrals. Finally, PHIWM will convene partners to improve the collaboration among CRPS, healthcare providers, and harm reduction organizations.
12. Toledo-Lucas Health Department (OH) $496,329.83. The Toledo-Lucas Health Department will collaborate with community partners to implement multiple strategies addressing opioid overdose prevention and harm reduction. TLCHD will develop and implement academic detailing to increase evidence-based harm reduction practices amongst healthcare providers in hospital emergency department settings. Partnering with a peer support agency, TLCHD will identify gaps in current overdose prevention strategies where peer support would improve linkages to care and implement peer support programming where needed. TLCHD will work with public safety and mental health partners to formalize and improve data collection and sharing. Finally, Toledo-Lucas County will develop a communication campaign to address stigma towards substance misuse and people who use drugs.
13. Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (CO) $169,970. This project seeks to increase the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment’s (DDPHE) capacity to address fatal and non-fatal overdoses by building and standardizing DDPHE’s surveillance activities to disseminate timely, accurate, and complete information to people who use drugs and their family and friends, service providers, and decision makers.
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About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.
