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City adds tools to fight opioid abuse

Grand Forks Herald - 11/11/2018

Nov. 11--Local leaders working against prescription drug abuse have spent the past 18 months ramping up efforts to prevent and treat opioid addiction across the Grand Forks community.

The city has gained several medication assisted treatment options, which it lacked in May 2017. Police officers and other first responders now have access to naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and prevent death. And the Grand Forks Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition has conducted more research on youth and adult use rates.

"We were having dramatic increases in overdoses and overdose fatalities," said Lt. Derik Zimmel with the Grand Forks Police Department. "A year and a half has given us some time to work on response protocols, and to put things in place that increase public safety."

Not only has the community had more time to adjust, but it has obtained more funding--shortly after Mayor Mike Brown issued a call to action against the opioid epidemic in May 2017, Grand Forks Public Health received a $180,000 State Targeted Response from the North Dakota Department of Human Services to create an Opiate Response Project. In June, Grand Forks received another $160,000 STR grant for the same use.

The Grand Forks Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, which has led most of the community's prevention efforts, got $50,000 from the state Department of Human services for its work, according to co-chair Bill Vasicek. The group used that funding to inform the public of proper ways to discard medication, minimizing access to prescription drugs like opioids.

"Then the coalition purchased disposable drug pouches, and we distributed those to funeral homes and the Grand Forks Senior Center," Vasicek said. "It's like a foil pouch. You open it up, you dump your pills in it, you add water, you close the pouch and you dispose of it in the trash. And it makes the medication unusable."

More recently, the coalition received a Drug Free Communities grant from the federal government that it began using in September. Through that grant, the coalition will receive $125,000 a year for the next five years to prevent substance abuse among Grand Forks youth, not just for prescription drugs but alcohol and marijuana misuse, as well.

Opiate Response Project

Twenty percent of Grand Forks Public Health's first STR grant covered prevention efforts, which was largely focused on increasing access to naloxone kits and training law enforcement, correctional facility staff and social service officials to use them.

"Having that available as a potential life-saving effort, I think, is very important," Zimmel said. Grand Forks police officers all carry or have access to naloxone kits, along with informational cards on treatment and safe practices to hand out in the event of an overdose.

"It's a little bit difficult when officers are the first ones on scene," Zimmel said. "If someone isn't breathing and they have a faint heartbeat or no heartbeat, officers are naturally inclined to transition directly to 'Let's make sure we have additional assistance on the way and let's go immediately into CPR.'"

What helps officers most is when people on scene are honest with responders and can point out if someone has overdosed.

The rest of the STR grant has led to increased medication assisted treatment throughout the city.

Project Coordinator Michael Dulitz reported at least 15 patients have been treated since May 1 through groups like Valley Community Health Centers, which Grand Forks partnered with shortly after the call to action.

In addition to that, STR funds have helped pay for the F5 Project to provide help to individuals in the criminal justice system, peer support group Face It Together and Agassiz Associates' efforts to treat inmates at the Grand Forks County Correctional Center.

In February, private treatment facility Ideal Options began medication assisted treatment in Grand Forks. The group is not a part of the Grand Forks project and doesn't receive STR funding.

A 'coordinated' response

Grand Forks now has a comprehensive Call to Action plan of recommendations all relating to prevention, treatment, recovery and communication efforts against opioid abuse and substance use disorders.

Advancements like access to naloxone resulted from the coordinated effort of getting local substance experts all on the same page, Grand Forks City Council member Jeannie Mock said. Mock and council member Sandi Marshall are both on a steering committee that helped create the community action plan.

The community is in a better place now thanks also to organizations and efforts outside of the committee, Marshall said, pointing to the LaGrave on First building that opened this summer to reduce local chronic homelessness. "While I don't think the call to action can take credit for that planning, it was a real huge step in the right direction," Marshall said. "We know a lot of people are homeless as a result of substance abuse. That's not the only reason, obviously, but when you have supportive housing that enables people to take advantage of treatment and start a path to healthier living, it's important."

As Grand Forks continues to implement the community action plan, Marshall said she'd like to focus on "ripple effects", including those in the local foster care system.

"Having personally worked in foster care, I've seen first hand the number of children that end up there because of parental substance use disorders," Marshall said. "If we can have a long term impact on parents being healthy themselves we could prevent the need for out-of-home placement of kids."

Mock is eager for the council to consider joining a multi-district lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors as the county recently did.

"It's not directly related, but we've heard from a couple different law firms, and the city attorney was looking a details and things like that," Mock said. "We should get a recommendation and we should be considering it."

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