Commissioners back first Opioid Settlement expenditures in county

Four programs to help area residents battling addiction to opioids received a funding boost this week.

At Monday’s Nash County Board of Commissioners meeting, the board issued its first spending directive from the $2.5 million that the county has so far received from the National Opioid Settlement.

Based on the recommendations of Assistant County Manager Tia Foula, who also serves as the county’s opioid settlement manager, commissioners unanimously approved spending $830,000 on programs that mitigate the harm to county residents caused by substance use.

The board authorized spending $200,000 to purchase the life-saving drug naloxone, $180,000 for recovery support services, $400,000 for post-overdose response teams and $50,000 for collaborative strategic planning.

Following the vote, board Chairman Robbie Davis thanked Foula for the work she put into the project.

“I’m very pleased to get to this point,” Davis said.

Foula said the spending strategies were formulated from data received at five opioid settlement forums held in venues across Nash County earlier in the year.

Foula recommended purchasing more naloxone to support programs that distribute the medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The medication is commonly known as Narcan.

For the $180,000 allocation to recovery support services, Foula explained that the funding would support the salary of two part-time peer support specialists to work with inmates at Nash County Detention Center until June 30, 2027. She said this program coincides with the medication-assisted treatment recently instituted at the jail.

Peer support specialists are former substance users trained in counseling those in active addiction.

Of the funding for a post-overdose response team, Foula said the provider for this program would be the county’s Emergency Medical Services and that members selected for the team will receive training from the N.C. Opioid Settlement Academy.

Foula said this program will utilize personnel already employed by Nash County EMS and will likely include those designated at community paramedics.

Team members will to travel to the home of a person who has recently overdosed, typically within 24 to 72 hours of the overdose, to provide support, education and connections to needed resources.

Due to current vacancies at Nash County, Davis requested that Foula compile a roster of EMS personnel that would be designated as team members.

In seeking funding for collaborative strategic planning, Foula noted that allocation would allow for people in the community to develop a plan and facilitate plans that are well-matched to the needs of their community. The $50,000 expenditure is earmarked for coordinating or contracting with a facilitator to create strategic planning efforts for future settlement projects.

Foula said implementation of this strategic planning program will identify gaps in the resources available to help people in need and to find prescriptive measures to fill those gaps.