Indigenous Knowledge-Informed Community Opioid Interventions - In response to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) HHS-2024-IHS-COIPP-0001, Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) requests $499,952 to implement an integrated set of Indigenous knowledge-informed, culturally attuned activities that will address needs and gaps in opioid services for urban American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) in our service area of the Seattle/King County metro area. The purpose of our COIPP project is to build the capacity of SIHB and our partners to comprehensively respond to the opioid crisis facing urban Native people in King County, the most populous county in Washington State and home to more than 43,800 AI/ANs representing nearly 200 tribes. SIHB is a Federally Qualified Health Center and an Urban Indian Organization (UIO). Our COIPP project’s overarching goal is to improve the health and well-being of urban AI/ANs by increasing access to Indigenous knowledge-informed, culturally attuned OUD prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm-reduction services. Our project’s population of focus is urban AI/ANs living in the Seattle/King County metro area, with an emphasis on activities to engage and serve specific groups of AI/ANs with increased risk factors for OUD and who experience gaps in prevention and intervention, including youth, pregnant people, and families. While our project will be informed by and serve local AI/ANs first, SIHB’s Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) division, the IHS-funded Tribal Epidemiology Center for urban AI/ANs nationwide, will share elements of our program with the 40 UIOs and 51 members of Urban Indian Health Network, equipping them with resources to address opioid needs and gaps in their own communities. Our proposed project addresses each of the four COIPP Required Activity areas. By the end of the project period, we will work toward our project’s four objectives by carrying out their corresponding activities. Objective 1: Expand the availability and dissemination of culturally attuned OUD prevention materials, messages, and trainings. Activity example: Develop and implement awareness and education campaigns focused around opioid risks, signs of misuse, response, and available treatment and recovery resources. Objective 2: Enhance referral pathways and provider capacity to treat AI/ANs with OUD using Indigenous knowledge-informed MAT services. Activity example: Develop and deliver a continuing medical education module for health care providers focused on culturally attuned MAT for pregnant AI/ANs. Objective 3: Expand the system of family-focused culturally attuned recovery supports available to AI/AN families impacted by OUD. Example activity: Develop and implement a biopsychosocial assessment for families to enhance and strengthen families’ access to Indigenous knowledge-informed community support networks. Objective 4: Increase community members’ knowledge of, access to, and skills for harm reduction. Key activities will include providing naloxone training in the community and education and distribution of harm reduction supplies. Expanded OUD activities will be embedded within SIHB’s Indigenous Knowledge Informed System of Care (IKISC) and integrated with our holistic continuum of services that includes Traditional Indian Medicine.
