Wednesday, February 5, 2025
2/5/2025
The Eastern Shoshone Tribe resides on the Wind River Indian Reservation (WRR) located in Fremont County, central Wyoming (WY). With more than 2.2 million acres of land, the WRR is home to two federally recognized tribes: Eastern Shoshone Tribe and Northern Arapaho Tribe. With separate governance structures, these tribes operate independently of one another —this proposal was developed by the Eastern Shoshone Recovery program, now doing business as the Doya Natsu Healing Center (DNHC) of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe (EST). The EST is resilient because of its culture, but the devastating impacts of substance use are negatively impacting individuals and families. Pharmacy, prescription, and opioid use disorder (OUD) data show that across all races, Fremont County prescribes opioids at a rate of 59.2 per 100 persons compared with the US rate of 51.4 per 100 persons. In Wyoming, 40 drug overdose deaths involved opioids in 2018 for a rate of 6.8 per 100,000 compared with the U.S. rate of 4.6 per 100,000, across all races. These rates are likely higher in American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations and often underestimated due to racial misclassification(1). Information from the Indian Health Services (IHS) National Data Warehouse provided by the Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center shows that the rate of opioid prescriptions increased among AIANs from 61.2 per 100 persons in 2016 to 87.3 per 100 persons in 2019 (2). The age-adjusted rates of opioid prescriptions and AIAN persons exposed also increased during this same time period from 76.4 per 100 persons to 108.1 per 100 persons. The most frequently prescribed opioids are morphine, tramadol, codeine, and hydrocodone, with 2,892 hydrocodone prescriptions in 2019 alone. Despite major efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions on the WRR, rates have steadily increased from 7,097 in 2016 to 10,135 in 2019 among AIANs. Similarly, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) prescriptions of Buprenorphine have increased from 248 in 2016 to 704 in 2019 (2). Suspected and fatal overdoses increased 159% from 2019 to 2023, and data from the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) shows a steady increase in overdoses, fatalities, and Naloxone on the WRR (3). The purpose of the project is to address the opioid crisis on the WRR by developing and expanding culturally responsive community education and awareness of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities for opioid misuse and OUD. The goals of this project are to 1) increase awareness and education, 2) create comprehensive support teams for families, and 3) reduce unmet treatment needs and opioid overdose deaths through MAT. This project will be guided by Shoshone values: family, humility, honesty, humor, language, tradition, spirituality, life lessons, respect, courage, honor, and generosity.
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).