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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 Opioid Settlement TF Meeting 06.26.2023Grant County Opioid Settlement Task Force Meeting Monday, June 26, 2023 Present: Bob Keeney, Gary Ranum, Jeff Kindrai, Misty Molzof, Jim Boebel, Brittany Lee, Rick Place, Shane Drinkwater, Carol Beals, Holly Knapp Grant County Herald Independent news was also online. Call to order by Bob Keeney at 8:40 a.m. Meeting met open meeting compliance Approval of agenda--Motion by Gary. Second by Jeff. Approved. Approval of minutes—Gary noted that Tonya White should be listed in attendance. Motion to approve with that addition by Gary. Second by Bob. Approved. Discussion and possible action on allocation of Opioid Litigation funds • Total money received to date is approximately $276K. • General discussion o Gary suggested having a person to coordinate efforts to bring together non-profits. Holly indicated that the cost would be nothing because there is already to person doing this now. Might have some cost to events and training but it would be minimal. Lafayette, Grant and Iowa counties are already providing this regional service. o Sources of Strength program—already have a person attending event to be trained in this area. This is a peer support program for kids and adults. Unified has a person that is already registered to get certified in this program. o Iowa County came up with a list of grant application opportunities for the money. No one was sure what Richland or Lafayette counties were doing. Bob will follow up with these counties. o Carol asked about the monies that are available for capital improvements, remodeling projects, etc… and how do we capture these funds. (Refer to appendix D) Holly indicated that there was already one grant application deadline that came out but it had a very short submission turnaround time (i.e. 2 weeks). We will continue to watch and see if these monies may be an opportunity as we explore options. o Expansion of IOP program. Holly outlined what is currently taking place and options on how to expand and potential costs. She also outlined what insurance covers and what it does not cover. General discussion. Holly indicated that it would not be difficult to expand group sessions and some staff are already going back to school to be certified. There is a 16 week program for certification that is a more cost effective than a master’s program. Space is an issue to be resolved. SWCAP may be an option and Holly will reach out to executive director. o Housing discussion. Would it be cost effective to purchase an existing duplex and revamp for potential housing opportunities? A few years ago the rules/guidelines were changed so that MA would cover treatment but it does not cover room and board. Some other settlement monies are now covering this expense thru grants. Holly indicated that childcare is an issue for some to attend programs. Bob asked about transportation as well. More general discussion. Education is a huge obstacle in getting housing for recovering drug addicts. Need to brainstorm this issue. o Prevention—increase school programs for awareness. Coordinate with CESA 3 for these efforts. CESA 3 applied for a Sources of Strengths grant. Unsure if it was funded. Holly will follow up and provide update. More discussion about how to work with CESA #3 to get into the schools and ramp up prevention ideas and planning opportunities. Jeff suggested that if there is a need for financial support in the prevention area that we look at assisting with funds. o Holly suggested that we form maybe two subgroups to further discuss and possibly come back with suggestions. One targeted at prevention and one targeted at sober housing and recovery. General discussion about how do we reach out to others and also how do we advertise for funding opportunities. o Discussion about medication injections prior to release from jail. Holly outlined the program and funding sources at this time. Holly’s preference would be to increase staffing within Unified to support the jail as well as Social Services needs that are currently being contracted out to an outside agency. o Narcan education—where are we at with this program? Unified has a robust program in place and already has a grant for covering expenses at this time. UW-Platteville has installed dispensary stations of Narcan in the residence halls. The school nurses do not see a need for Narcan in the public schools. No one was sure if the school safety officer has Narcan available either. General discussion. o Website—Holly indicated that this is already in progress. She will provide an update. A “one stop” website for multiple resources could be linked off of the county webpage. Maybe we could even have a QR code. Need to brainstorm about ways to advertise that resources and monies are available. o Tony Hoffman—Iowa county hired him to speak to all high school students within Iowa County. They decided to bus in the students to Dodgeville High School. They also had an evening event open to the general public. Both very well attended. Unified was involved in the planning and provided money to offset the cost of bringing him here for these events. Holly will look into details to do something similar in Grant county and report back. Jim indicated that this would be easy to incorporate into the schools and CESA 3 could again serve as the conduit. Discussion about when and who to have at the next meeting. Some of the people that we are reaching out to may be invited to attend so that we can have the conversation with them about possibilities. The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 18th at the Community Services Building. Motion to adjourn by Gary. Second by Jeff. Meeting adjourned.