The Community Action Commission (CAC) of Fayette County, on behalf of the Fayette County Prevention Coalition, recently received a $75,000 Generation Rx grant through Cardinal Health’s Opioid Action Program to support their efforts to fight the opioid epidemic in Ohio.
According to a press release from the prevention coalition, CAC of Fayette County was one of 70 organizations to be selected for this competitive grant program throughout Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
“The Community-Level Response grant will support our efforts to reduce the availability and misuse of prescription opiates through education, multi-sector collaboration, expanding drug take back efforts, and addressing the root causes of the availability issue” said Tiffany Garrison, prevention coordinator.
With this grant, the coalition said it will be impacted in several ways. This includes an increase to the number of drug take back events, the ability to provide funding to promote these take back events, the opportunity to expand opioid prevention education, and they will be able to work with local physicians to identify ways to decrease the supply of opiates.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Ohio was number three in 2016 in overdose deaths. There is a link between heroin use and prescription drug misuse. Citing the research, Garrison added a call to action: “Given that Fayette County prescribes more doses per capita than the state average, it is integral that we work together to turn back the tide and reduce the non-medical use of opiates.”
Community Action Commission of Fayette County (Fayette County Prevention Coalition) was one of eight organizations in communities across Ohio selected to receive the Community-Level Response grant. As part of Cardinal Health’s Opioid Action Program, the community-level response grants are designed to support multi-sector collaborative work across the community to reduce opioid addiction, overdoses and opioid-related deaths. Key leaders from these Ohio communities will meet regularly to share their progress and the lessons they have learned in fighting the opioid epidemic. This learning collaborative will be guided by LEAD, a nonprofit organization focused on prevention and community collaboration work.
“All of the organizations selected for funding share our goal of turning the tide on the opioid epidemic,” said Jessie Cannon, vice president of community relations at Cardinal Health. “Ultimately, we expect our grantees to learn from each other—and we will learn from them. As they develop best practices, our goal is to spread this work throughout the country, and foster solutions to this complex public health crisis.”
To learn more about Fayette County Prevention Coalition’s ongoing efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, please visit its website at https://www.cacfayettecounty.org/fcpc.
The information in this article was provided by the Fayette County Prevention Coalition.
