Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health (BBPH) and Heartview Foundation have received a grant from the North Dakota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Division to address opioid abuse and overdose deaths. Five communities were awarded grants after demonstrating a need for funding, as well as the capacity to implement evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery strategies. The grant will support the Mayors’ Gold Star Community Task Force, a locally-driven, collaborative effort between the Bismarck-Mandan-Lincoln communities in response to behavioral health and substance abuse issues in the community, and will be used for various interventions including prevention and education, increasing the availability and use of naloxone to prevent overdose deaths and increasing access to medication assisted treatment.
The grant award is very timely. The Mayors’ Gold Star Community task force met July 27 and identified education and prevention, intoxification/withdrawal management and increased access to recovery and treatment as top priorities. Just last week, the federal Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis released its interim report and called for enhanced access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT). According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the most recent data estimates that 142 Americans die every day from a drug overdose. Overdose deaths in North Dakota increased from 20 deaths in 2013 to 61 deaths in 2015. According to the County Health Rankings, there were 10 drug overdose deaths in Burleigh County in 2015.
As community partners and co-applicants of the grant, Heartview Foundation will administer the $180,000 grant. Eighty percent of which ($144,000) is focused on treatment and recovery. Twenty percent of the grant ($36,000) is focused on prevention and education. Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health will serve as a contractor to implement these strategies.
For more information visit www.bismarcknd.gov/goldstartaskforce.