Opioid funding approvals near as board wraps up final meeting
By Cameron Montemayor
Agencies and organizations in St. Joseph and Buchanan County will find out this week if they’ll get a boost from the first round of long-awaited opioid crisis settlement funds.
Friday’s second and final meeting at the St. Joseph Health Department saw the Opioid Settlement Review Board give final confirmation and discussion to confirm recommended funding amounts. Applicants selected for funding will be notified by March 18 and funding agreements must be in place with selected groups by March 22. The agreements will then go before the City Council and County Commissioners for vote likely in April.
“We’re going to work very diligently to get those agreements established, the funding awards made and get that funding out into the community,” said Kendra Bundy, St. Joseph Health Department assistant health director and review board coordinator.
Local agencies and organizations seeking funds include Buchanan County EMS, Community Missions, the Samaritan Center, St. Joseph Youth Alliance, the St. Joseph Metro Treatment Center, Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, Mission House Covenant Community and St. Joseph Museums.
The Samaritan Center is seeking funds to help boost the nonprofit’s service capabilities with help from a peer-support specialist. A peer specialist would play a vital role assisting those who are in treatment but in danger of relapsing.
Buchanan County EMS is looking to enhance its education pieces on Narcan and other drugs with settlement funding while the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office applied for a one-time funding request to boost maintenance for its mass spectrometer, a key device for law enforcement that analyzes and identifies compounds in drug samples.
While the settlement with the city and county totals more than $2 million, $157,000 will be available each year until 2039 to ensure consistent funding is available for the duration of the settlement agreement. $15,000 is also on hand year-round to help fund an emergent need that arises.
“We’re talking about expanding education to youth and families and sharing good educational messaging to aftercare and follow up for persons going from homelessness to dealing with mental health and substance use disorders, housing aspects, and how to expand current housing situations,” Bundy said.
Overall, funds must go to support services that focus on opioid treatment, prevention and education, as well as filling gaps between city and county opioid prevention services, addressing unmet substance use prevention needs and supporting sustainable resources for the prevention of substance use disorders.
By bringing a variety of subject matter experts to the table, the meetings have been productive in ways beyond determining how to divvy up funds for organizations that requested a piece of settlement funding.
“I think really maybe an unforeseen consequence, but a really great outcome is that during these conversations we were able to identify some low and no-cost funding opportunities or opportunities for sharing resources and other things so that we didn’t necessarily have to pull from this funding,” Bundy said.
Members on the board include:
Kendra Bundy, St. Joseph Health Department assistant director
Stephanie Malita, health educator with the St. Joseph Health Department
Tammy Smith-Hinchey, St. Joseph School District health services coordinator
Pat Dillon, chief government and community relations officer with Mosaic Life Care
Capt. Shawn Collie with the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force
Chief Paul Lester with the St. Joseph Police Department
Dr. Robert Corder, treatment and addiction physician with The Center, a Samaritan Center
After funding agreements have been executed, the board will perform quarterly reviews to determine if organizations and agencies are meeting their settlement funding goals.
