New london county CARES- access to treatment for individuals with opioid use disorders - alliance for living, INC., a non-profit located in new london, connecticut is seeking funding to address the…

New london county CARES- access to treatment for individuals with opioid use disorders - alliance for living, INC., a non-profit located in new london, connecticut is seeking funding to address the overdose epidemic that continues to decimate our community and communities across the nation. Our project, new london county coordinated access, resources, engagement support project (CARES) is a set of interrelated actions, designed to increase understanding of and access to evidence-based services and treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) and polysubstance use between systems of care. CARES is an on-going project. Funds are needed to expand staff to increase no-barrier, low threshold access to evidence -based treatment reducing the influence of social and economic factors that can prevent entry into and retention in OUD treatment and expanding community capacity to support people who use drugs and who may not be ready for treatment. IT is imperative that we provide drug user health services and access to overdose education and naloxone, food, transportation, and linkage to medical and mental health care. The goals of the CARES project are to reduce the negative impact of drugs in our community by enhancing conditions that lead to sustained support for a continuum of care for people living with opioid and/or polysubstance use. CARES has five primary components: increasing engagement between systems of care and people living with OUD; improving retention in treatment by addressing the social determinants of health; proactively responding to emerging local conditions; increasing community capacity to support people living with OUD; and identifying and addressing systemic barriers. This project deploys CARES navigators and clinicians to community settings where they are likely to encounter people who are at risk for overdose. Especially important for those in less densely populated parts of our service area, the CARES navigators can be reached through a centralized phone number that includes texting capabilities, through social media and telemedicine. Once the navigator has connected with a participant, they use motivational interviewing to ascertain what the person needs. The navigator can provide education on wound care, safe use supplies, naloxone and support as people may be focused on their drug use and we can offer harm reduction strategies so they can stay alive. The navigator can provide linkages to any service including on-demand medication for opioid use disorder and ongoing support. The project will serve residents of new london county, connecticut. Located in the southeastern corner the region has been HIT hard by the overdose epidemic driven by an adulterated drug supply. According to the robert wood johnson foundation county health rankings, from 2015-2017 windham and new london counties had the highest drug overdose rate in the state (34 and 33 per 100,000 respectively). An analysis by the connecticut department of mental health demonstrated for the fourth quarter of 2018, new london county had the highest rate in state of emergency department of visits for suspected opioid overdose (41.6) per 10,000 visits) and the third highest rate of visits for suspected heroin overdose (39 per 10,000). The epidemic continues to grow. The current project has served more than 600 individuals with two full-time navigators. We seek to expand staffing and the number of people we can serve. If funded, we will be able to significantly increase the number of people we can serve. Frequently, we meet with people who are from different regions of the state and may be in our service area temporarily. We never turn anyone away who needs services. Additionally, we work with people returning to our community from incarceration as they are at greatest risk of overdose and death due to reduced tolerance and prolonged abstinence from drugs.