Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Tsawuidu: meaning well, good, or careful in Paiute - ABSTRACT Toiyabe Indian Health Project, Inc. (TIHP) serves an isolated population within a 200-mile radius of the frontier designated Inyo-Mono county region of California. TIHP is a tribal, nonprofit organization that serves the medical, dental, optical, behavioral health (substance abuse prevention/treatment, mental health), pharmacy, and dialysis care needs of American Indians and the greater community at large. The clinic is overseen by a consortium of seven federally recognized tribes and two tribal communities. Since 2015, 640 unduplicated patients diagnosed with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) have accessed services at TIHP. More than 75% of total deaths from overdose within Inyo county in 2018 were ethnically-identified as American Indian. As recovery services and data collection related to the prevalence of OUD remain limited within TIHP’s service area, the purpose of obtaining a Community Opioid Intervention Pilot Project (COIPP) is essential to raising awareness, providing education to the community on evidenced-based treatment and recovery options, and supporting the work to further develop a sustainable Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program. With COIPP funding, TIHP can implement the Tsawuidu project. Funds will be allocated to retain currently employed MAT champions. The qualified content experts will complete the activities and provide leadership in facilitating a sensitive subject matter to the general public. To deliver culturally appropriate harm reduction efforts, a harm reduction/outreach specialist will be added to the current team. The Tsawuidu team will consist of a clinical director, project director, grants coordinator, harm reduction/outreach specialist, and a media coordinator. The team will develop scheduled educational events and educational materials. More importantly, the funding will allow TIHP to provide outreach/harm reduction access for individuals in isolated areas. As part of our mission to deliver community access to OUD education and TIHP resources, we will continue to integrate indigenous language and culturally appropriate resources through our innovative mass communication effort. With COIPP funding, we will improve our recently completed Native American mobile application (app). The mobile app will be available for download via Apple™ and Android™ platforms beginning February 2021. The Tsawuidu team will also work to develop culturally relevant OUD prevention education modules and encourage conversation to improve care with our partners by creating an indigenous recovery podcast. To improve services at TIHP’s MAT program, COIPP funding will increase access to inpatient treatment, provide recovery support through contingency management, develop family recovery group activities, and develop support for patients in chronic pain. Evaluation of the project will be completed by collecting qualitative and quantitative data using surveys developed by the Tsawuidu team, event attendance sign-in sheets, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant Smartsheets™ program, and chart reviews. Data collection will be completed monthly by the Tsawuidu team and reported to COIPP grantors, TIHP board of directors, and community partners quarterly to ensure all activities are completed within the project period.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).