By BISHOP NASH
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Federal grant funding totaling $2 million is headed into Huntington to help establish the city’s own Quick Response Team, a multi-agency method to devise individual treatment in the days following a person’s overdose, and the Turn Around program, a pilot project within Western Regional Jail structured to reduce re-offense rates among inmates with drug addictions or mental health issues.
The $2 million total comes from three, three-year federal grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the city announced Monday.
“Huntington is a proactive community that helps identify solutions related to the opioid epidemic that can be replicated across the country,” Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said. “This funding will significantly improve the collaboration, engagement and hope necessary to overcome the epidemic.”
Funding was secured by the Huntington Mayor’s Office of Drug Control Policy along with local law enforcement, jail officials, health care providers, addiction recovery centers, the church community, and Marshall University.
Two of the three grants, a total $1.35 million through the DHHS ($1.05 million) and the DOJ ($300,000) will fuel the city’s forthcoming Quick Response Team over three years. QRTs contact people who have suffered an overdose generally within 72 hours following the incident, and within a week of the overdose, a team consisting of an addiction counselor, a police officer and a paramedic visit the victim in his or her home. QRTs provide information and maintain that relationship until the person is admitted into a treatment program.
U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., announced the two QRT grants through his office Friday and Monday. Jenkins noted the challenge in ensuring overdose victims receive follow-up treatment and said too often, they return to their lives as they were without care.
“Thanks to these two grants, Huntington will be able to start breaking that cycle and ensure overdose patients are counseled and offered treatment options,” Jenkins said in a release. “I applaud the city for its innovative approaches to addressing the opioid crisis and look forward to seeing this team at work throughout Huntington.”
Following an overdose, a QRT will plan out the appropriate steps for each individual’s intervention based on their personal needs, strengths and weaknesses. Family members of the victim will be involved in the process and themselves screens for their own risk of substance use.
The QRT model has been used with success in the Cincinnati area. When the Colerain Township (Ohio) Department of Public Safety visited in Huntington in February, the department reported 8 out of 10 people have entered treatment after meeting with its own QRT program.
In addition to city hall, the QRT grants will be administered in part by the Huntington Police Department, Cabell County EMS, the Prestera Center, the Huntington Treatment Center, Recovery Point, the Huntington Black Pastors Association, Marshall’s Department of Public Health and Marshall’s Wellness Center, according to city officials.
West Virginia’s regional jails do offer psychiatric services and drug detox for those jailed on misdemeanor convictions, the release states, but inmates are not systematically screened for mental health and/or substance use disorders. If not treated once released, inmates may be more likely to be incarcerated again under the same circumstances.
The Turn Around program will be assisted by the Prestera Center, Recovery Point, S.V. and Associates, and the Western Regional Day Report Center.
“I applaud all of the law enforcement agencies, corrections officials, university researchers, faith-based leaders, medical care providers and treatment and recovery centers that have worked tirelessly to secure this funding,” Williams said. “The City of Huntington also extends our gratitude to our congressional delegation for their unrelenting support of our initiatives.”
Follow reporter Bishop Nash on Twitter at @BishopNash.
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