In July 2022, the Board of Health approved the addition of a Healthy Communities Specialist to replace the temporary AmeriCorp VISTA Opioid Outreach Coordinator position that ended mid-August 2022. Funding support for this position was to be .5 FTE from the Human Resources Services Administration (HRSA) grant and the remaining .5 FTE from the District’s general funds.
This opportunity would allow the District to replace the designated .5 FTE general funds with funds under this grant and would allow us to expand our opioid surveillance and data sharing activities, expand our naloxone distribution efforts to other local law enforcement agencies, implement a naloxone leave-behind program, and improve our Snohomish Overdose Prevention website.
Under this grant, we hope to expand on the work we are currently doing and achieve the following goals:
- Improve and expand surveillance efforts of law enforcement and first responder naloxone administration in the field. We currently have a grant that does surveillance of non-fatal overdoses in the emergency departments of Providence and Swedish Edmonds. Through this surveillance, we can understand the various trends that are occurring around opioid use and misuse in our county and use that information to make decisions regarding our prevention efforts. This grant would expand that surveillance to our law enforcement agencies that use naloxone in the field. Doing so can improve our overdose prevention and response efforts, including the possibility of increasing our response to communities/areas at highest risks.
- Increase partnerships with public safety and first responders. We currently coordinate with eight local police departments to order and dispense naloxone to them, track the use of their naloxone in the field, and provide them with educational materials. Under this grant, we hope to expand our partnerships to include at least 50% of the remaining law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and EMS providers. We would also like to explore expanding this partnership to organizations that have care coordinator or peer navigator programs. Under this grant and through these partnerships, we also would like to implement a leave-behind program.
- Increase communication campaigns by improving the Snohomish Overdose Prevention website and implement a campaign that raises awareness about the risks of substance use, fentanyl, and substance use disorder. Using the data we collect, we will have the ability to create campaigns that target populations disproportionately impacted by opioids.
This item is being brought to the full Board for approval due to the short turnaround time for the application submittal.
Maximum Funding Amount: Up to $300,000
Estimated Period of Performance: November 1, 2022 – January 31, 2024 (15 months)
Application due: September 16, 2022, 11:59 P.M. EST
Staffing Impacts:
We would move the two current staff members who are currently doing this work from the District’s general fund to this grant.
- Healthy Communities Specialist .5 FTE
- Epidemiologist II .5 FTE