PROJECT ABSTRACT
SAMHSA: First Responders - Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Grants
(FR-CARA), Funding Opportunity Number TI-19-004
CONNECT - the Community Opportunity, Network, Navigation, Exploration, and Connection Team, will create the first Franklin County/North Quabbin, Massachusetts 30-town, 24/7 opioid overdose rapid response team, using an evidence-based regional hub and spoke model, to respond to fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the only federally-designated rural county in Massachusetts.
CONNECT will serve 200 adults annually who experience or witness an opioid overdose, for a total of 800 persons during the grant period. CONNECT will also serve other high-risk populations with opioid use disorder (OUD), including those with co-occurring mental health conditions, pregnant/postpartum women, military veterans, and the formerly incarcerated.
CONNECT has seven goals: 1) provide real-time 24/7 assistance to individuals who survived or witnessed an opioid overdose (e.g. family, community members); 2) make in-person follow-up visits, within 72 hours, to individuals who survived or witnessed an opioid overdose to assess health and social needs; 3) deliver comprehensive evidence-based care (e.g. case management, peer support, trauma-informed practices) to connect individuals to pharmacotherapy (e.g. methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone), community-based services and recovery supports; 4) use “warm handoffs” to ensure opioid overdose survivors and witnesses navigate care across systems; 5) expand naloxone availability and appropriate use by first responders and community bystanders focusing on naloxone deserts; 6) establish a database to track CONNECT participants for care coordination and continuous quality improvement; and 7) conduct trainings on protections for “Good Samaritans” (e.g. those who assist during an opioid overdose) and establish safety protocols on fentanyl and other licit/illicit opioids exposure.
CONNECT will reduce opioid overdoses through the (1) increase in the use of evidence-based practices via rapid response times, “warm-handoffs,” and multi-sectoral collaboration, (2) expansion of naloxone availability and appropriate use, (3) enabling of first responders and community bystanders to safely handle fentanyl and other illicit substances; and 4) enabling of community bystanders to save lives safely.
To create CONNECT, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (a unit of state government), in collaboration with the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region and other community partners, are requesting $3.2M in funding over four years from SAMHSA’s FR-CARA FOA #TI-19-004. The CONNECT evaluation, led by University of Massachusetts-Amherst scientist Elizabeth Evans, Ph.D. will assess its effectiveness.
