Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Overdose Response - Alaska is a geographically large and primarily rural service area with significant health needs. Between 2014 and 2023, the state recorded 1,757 drug overdose deaths, with approximately 89% being unintentional. The Alaska-Rural Community Overdose Response Project (AK-RCORP) aims to combat increases in opioid use disorders (OUD) and overdoses in rural Alaska by expanding provider capacity and increasing community access to life-saving interventions. This initiative integrates naloxone distribution and administration training with evidence-based clinical training to enhance Alaskan healthcare professionals' ability to screen, prevent, and treat substance use disorders effectively. A strategic partnership between the University of Alaska’s Center for Rural Health and Health Workforce and Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies along with the State of Alaska’s Project HOPE represents a powerful collaboration leveraging each entity’s strengths to address OUD and expand access to life-saving interventions in Alaska’s rural communities. The project will address immediate and long-term overdose response needs in Alaska via two primary activities: 1) the expanded distribution of naloxone kits and community-based training provided to underserved communities (Tier 1 Activities); and 2) specialized clinical substance use training for healthcare providers (Tier 2 Activities). Naloxone distribution and administration trainings will take place in the Western Alaska Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta and the Southwestern Aleutian-Pribilof (AP) regions, both of which are extremely rural, remote, and underserved and made up of primarily American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. These activities will better educate community members about the risks of opioid use disorders (OUD) as well as prepare them to respond in overdose scenarios. The tier 2 activity, rural healthcare provider clinical training Recognizing and Responding to Opioid Use, will provide healthcare providers the opportunity to examine stigma, learn to implement Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), and current evidence and use of medication assistance treatment for opioid use disorders. Flexible training formats, both in-person and asynchronous, will encourage and reduce barriers to participation. Long-term success will be ensured by integrating training into Alaska’s healthcare education infrastructure, engaging AHEC Scholars for continued outreach, and advocating for policy and funding support. The anticipated impact includes increased provider competency in SBIRT, awareness of the current availability, use, and outcomes of effective ORM and medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid disorders; integration, enhanced patient outcomes through evidence-based interventions, and strengthened rural healthcare workforce sustainability. By combining workforce development with community-based harm reduction strategies, this initiative aims to reduce opioid-related fatalities and create a lasting framework for addressing substance use disorders in Alaska’s most vulnerable communities.
