Tuesday, April 23, 2024
4/23/2024
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium's (ANTHC) Training Organizational and Community First Responders to Respond to Adverse Opioid-Related Incidents project will focus on the development of a trained network of workplace naloxone use programs in rural Alaska communities. The primary target population of this grant is the user population of the Alaska Tribal Health System (ATHS), which includes 16 regional health consortia and 17 tribal and/or local health programs. The most recent user population count is roughly 189,000 people, which includes both AN/AI consumers (89%) and non-Native consumers. In rural areas, substance abuse and opioid misuse are particular hard to address due to limited resources for prevention, treatment, and recovery. Factors contributing to the abuse of these substances are low educational attainment, unemployment, and high-risk behaviors, as well as isolation and poverty. The goals of this project are to: 1) Design a workplace naloxone use program that includes policies, procedures, training, and referral protocols, 2) Increase in the number of trained key community sector members/organizational first responders in recognizing suspected opioid overdose, administering opioid reversal medication, and following referral to treatment protocols, and 3) Increase in capacity for trained first responders in opioid overdose reversals in rural Alaskan organizations and communities statewide. In Year One of this grant, the project will focus on distributing naloxone and training key community members and organizational first responders on the Alaska Native Health Campus (ANHC) in recognizing suspected opioid overdose, administering opioid overdose reversal medication, and following referral to treatment protocols. In addition, we will establish the policies, protocols, and mechanisms for referral to treatment and recovery support services for a workplace naloxone use program. We will also create educational materials regarding safety around fentanyl, carfentanil, and other dangerous licit and illicit drugs. In Years Two through Four, the project will expand into three rural communities per year. The primary target of the workplace naloxone use programs will be connected with the Tribal Health Organizations (THO) and interested rural communities, key community members and first responders in the ATHS. Other rural and remote community emergency response organizations invited will include behavioral health clinics, shelters, and organized volunteer groups to further increase access to these life-saving services for AN/AI people in rural communities across Alaska. It is anticipated that the project will train 750 organizational first responders in Year One and 450 per year in Years Two through Four, totaling 2,100 trainees over the lifetime of the grant.
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).
