Macon County Overdose Prevention and Response Initiative - Community Health Improvement Center dba Crossing Healthcare (Crossing) proposes the Macon County Overdose Prevention and Response Initiative, a three-year project to reduce opioid overdose deaths and strengthen overdose prevention and response throughout Macon County, Illinois. The project will expand access to opioid overdose reversal medications (OORMs), strengthen community education and training, improve referral pathways to treatment and recovery services, and build a coordinated countywide system for populations at highest risk. The project will serve adolescents and adults at increased risk of experiencing or witnessing an overdose, including individuals with opioid use disorder or other substance use disorders; individuals using opioids, stimulants, counterfeit pills, or other substances from an unpredictable drug supply; individuals experiencing homelessness or housing instability; justice-involved individuals; individuals transitioning from hospitals, treatment programs, or correctional settings; and individuals seeking treatment or recovery. Training will also equip family members, caregivers, first responders, healthcare professionals, employers, educators, and community partners to recognize and respond to overdoses and facilitate timely connections to care. In 2024, Macon County recorded 10 opioid-related fatalities, a rate of 9.9 deaths per 100,000 residents. This exceeded the statewide mean of 8.0 and median of 7.5 deaths per 100,000 residents (Illinois Department of Public Health [IDPH], 2025, Tables 4–5). Poverty, transportation barriers, housing instability, behavioral health workforce shortages, and fragmented referral pathways hinder access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Grant funding will strengthen Macon County's coordinated overdose prevention and response system through community education, workforce development, targeted outreach, overdose response training, counterfeit pill awareness, improved referral processes, and cross-sector collaboration. Over the three-year project period, the project will serve approximately 1,500 unduplicated individuals, distribute 3,600 OORM kits, train at least 1,200 community members and professionals, conduct at least 90 outreach, training, education, and public-awareness activities, provide at least 300 documented referrals or warm handoffs to treatment and recovery services, establish at least 12 community OORM distribution locations or public-access points, and formalize at least 10 community partnerships. Crossing's continuum of primary care, behavioral health, substance use disorder services, care coordination, and community outreach provides the expertise, partnerships, and infrastructure needed to implement and sustain a coordinated overdose prevention and response system in Macon County. Reference: Illinois Department of Public Health. (2025, December). Statewide semiannual overdose report. https://dph.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idph/publications/idph/topics-and-services/opioids/idph-data-dashboard/semiannual-overdose-report-122025.pdf
