Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Overdose Response - Organization Name: Mountaineer Community Health Center Address: 783 Winchester Street, Paw Paw, West Virginia, 25434 Needs you plan to address: Mountaineer Community Health Center’s (MCHC’s) Rural Community Opioid Response Program (RCORP) - Overdose Response will address the immediate and short-term substance use disorder (SUD) needs of the Morgan and Hampshire County, WV residents by reducing this risk of and preventing overdoses. Proposed services: MCHC will expand upon its safety net primary care and behavioral health services by incorporating two allowable activities into its existing services: • Tertiary Prevention #1: Purchase naloxone, fentanyl test strips, or other evidence-based tertiary prevention supplies and distribute them within the target rural service area. Award recipients must follow all applicable local, state, and Federal laws and policies when purchasing and distributing these supplies. • Treatment #3. Screening and connection to treatment. Screen individuals for SUD/OUD and related infectious diseases and ensure that all individuals who screen positive are connected with treatment and other behavioral health and social services. Population groups you plan to serve: The target population is Morgan County and Hampshire County, WV, residents at risk for SUD, with an active SUD/Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), their families and/or caregivers, and community members. Summary: While much of the country is making positive changes where substance use disorders (SUDs) are concerned, Morgan and Hampshire Counties in West Virginia are facing a problem of growing and even epic proportions. In the service area, the drug overdose death rate is two and a half times higher than the national rate. The sad reality is that everyone has been touched by a friend or loved one who has overdosed and died. It is a family and communal tragedy, and the service area is suffering. MCHC is the service area’s award-winning Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that cares for residents of all ages in rural West Virginia regardless of ability to pay. The service area covers Morgan and Hampshire Counties; both are rural-designated areas that cover 875 square miles of mountainous terrain. The counties are designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in both Primary Care and Mental Health Care, and social service support agencies are few and far between. MCHC will utilize funding to expand upon its existing safety net behavioral health infrastructure, which includes primary care and integrated behavioral health services. The Center will partner with Pathways, the area’s longstanding, premier, central recovery community organization (RCO), to provide community members with naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and accompanying educational materials. Additionally, MCHC Clinicians will screen patients and community members for SUDs, including Opioid Use Disorders (OUDs) and related infectious diseases such as hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV. Those providers, specially trained in HCV and HIV clinical care, will provide chronic care management when needed. At the same time, a Nurse Navigator will ensure that all individuals who screen positive will be connected with treatment and other behavioral health and social services locally and regionally. This will effectively link those with SUDs to needed resources, thereby breaking the cycle of recurrence.
