Commissioners approve funds to battle opioid epidemic

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The Granville County Board of Commissioners approved the use of $489,539 in funding from the Opioid Settlement Funds for the new fiscal year on Monday with the hopes it will help to combat the opioid overdose crisis throughout the county.

The funding will be used to start the first wave of programs to fight the growing problem.

The Granville County Sheriff’s Office is focusing on using medicated assisted treatment in the Detention Center for those detainees currently experiencing opioid use disorder.

Medicated assisted treatment is an evidence-based strategy that has been proven to save lives by bringing a critical service to a high risk and hard to reach population through medication, therapy and counseling, according to the county’s agenda packet.

The Sheriff’s Office requested $196,593 for the first year and the request includes funding for an administrative assistant and a social worker to implement the program.

Granville Heath System requested $293,000 from the Opioid Settlement Funds to support a Post-Overdose Response Team or PORT.

The PORT program is another evidence-based strategy proven to save lives and will provide resources to individuals who have recently experienced an overdose. The goal is the prevent a future overdose, according to the packet.

The PORT team would be composed of a community paramedic and a social worker who would offer assistance and resources for those individuals who have recently experienced an overdose.

The Opioid Advisory Committee recommended approving first year funding for both programs.

Commissioner Russ May had several questions before the board voted on the recommendation.

May asked if the cost of the medication needed by the programs was included in the requested funding.

Lisa Harrison, director of Granville-Vance Public Health, said that she believes the cost of the medication is included in the request and there is additional funding from a grant for the Granville County Detention Center.

May was also concerned about what happens to individuals that began the extensive treatment program while incarcerated and then are released. He also asked who would pay for the treatment when they are released.

Harrison said that once the individual leaves the facility the chance of overdosing is at its highest, so that is why there needs to be continuity of care for each individual.

Harrison said that policy-wise and statewide the reinstatement of Medicaid would help those that qualify for Medicaid, but might have been suspended.  Medicaid covers all the necessary support services around opioid use disorder.

Harrison said they are working statewide to have Medicaid benefits resume prior to reentry into community.

There are lots of different pathways for those that have insurance, self-pay or other means of paying for treatment. There needs to be a case manager to help them with that and the proposal for the detention center includes that social worker, care manager.

May said that some people think that you are just replacing a drug with another drug and asked Harrison to explain how the treatment program would work.

Harrison said that any addiction, especially opioid addiction, is a tough thing to get through, and humans have different reactions to different opportunities to get through it.

“Some people will lean on spirituality, some people will lean on their physician to look at evidence-bases approaches such as medication and therapy to get them through it,” she said. “Some people can do a 12-step program and find that really helpful. Lots of people will respond differently to things that will work for them.”

Harrison said her recommendation is whatever pathway that works for  you to get to the other side, is the right pathway and let’s help you find that pathway.

Harrison said the longer the addiction to opioids the more the brain chemistry changes and it is really hard to get that brain chemistry back on-line without some sense of help from a medication that gets that brain back on-line a little faster with a little more help.

“Like other people with chronic diseases, like diabetes, obesity, we are leaning  a lot of interventions, that are medical interventions can help you back on track a little faster,” she said. “It doesn’t make you weaker, doesn’t make you less effective in get through to the other side. It just helps.”

She said the new weight loss drugs that give a person a jump start on getting back on track are similar to some of the drugs used for treating opioid use disorder, medications that help individuals get back on track quicker. She said it might help move them toward what is needed to lead to recovery.

“We want the best possible chance of living and recovering and if that takes a medication to get them there, then we need to help them with that”, she said.

She also said there is individual and group counseling available at the health department.

She said each individual will be different and we want them to have the best chance of recovery possible.

Commissioner Zelodis Jay echoed May’s concerns about what will happen to those that have received treatment at the detention center and then are released.

Harrison assured Jay that there are a series of options available after they leave the detention center.

She said the health department is one of those options that they can continue treatment for opioid use disorder.

Harrison said that using the Opioid Settlement Funds will hep fill some of the gaps for future programs and needs.

Drew Cummings, county manager, said the commissioners would see a grant agreement that will have more detail including metrics that will help measure the success of these one-year programs.

Harrison said there will be an impact report mandated by state rules and regulations.

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