Monday, April 28, 2025
4/28/2025
COVID-19 Emergency Response for Suicide Prevention Grants - Contact Community Services, Inc., a 501(c)(3) in East Syracuse, NY is proposing the COVID-19 Emergency Response for Suicide Prevention Grants Integrated with Upstate University Hospital, St Joseph’s Hospital Health Center Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, Vera House and Oswego County Opportunities. This program will help to advance efforts to safeguard the well-being of individuals at risk of suicide, domestic violence, and substance use disorders, a risk that has been elevated due to the constraints of social distancing, quarantine orders, financial stress, collective anxiety and the trauma that the world is experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our community continues to face challenges related to mental health and substance use, including high rates of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and mortality due to opioids. Suicide and self-inflicted injury also continue to be challenges locally - Oswego County has been designated as a MH Professional Shortage Area based on the ratio of the county population to the number of MH providers. Our local emergency department visit rate due to alcohol use is 55.6% (per 10,000) adults 18 years of age and older. New York State statistics indicate that 32.3% of women and 33.5% of men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes. In our community, of those receiving DV services, 44% reported having a substance use issue and 60% reported a mental health diagnosis. For individuals experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault who also have a substance use disorder, isolation and feeling disconnected from community resources can be even more prevalent because historically communities have had little accessible prevention educations and services for substance abuse prevention. The project meets these objectives: • Provide for rapid follow-up of adults who have attempted suicide or experienced a suicidal crisis after discharge from emergency departments and inpatient psychiatric facilities. • Establish follow-up and care transition protocols to help ensure patient safety, • Assure provision of, suicide prevention training to community and clinical service providers and systems serving adults at risk • Enable work across systems to implement comprehensive suicide prevention • Provide suicide screening, assessment, and appropriate clinical treatment and community recovery support to include telehealth by phone and computer • Provide enhanced services for victims of domestic violence and their families. Contact will work with community partners to utilize third-party reimbursements to the extent possible, serve individuals not covered by public or commercial health insurance using SAMHSA grant funds, facilitate the health insurance application for eligible uninsured clients, and connect individuals to other systems when possible.
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).