Essex county division of community health services' (DCHS) cara project - the county of essex's division of community health services' (DCHS) county cara project will focus on: 1. Strengthening opioid…

Essex county division of community health services' (DCHS) cara project - the county of essex's division of community health services' (DCHS) county cara project will focus on: 1. Strengthening opioid overdose response and prevention efforts in essex county by providing comprehensive training, education, resources, and post overdose rapid response; and, 2. Fostering community engagement and collaboration to address substance use disorder in essex county. For DCHS's county cara project, we will partner with rutgers new jersey medical school, department of emergency medicine, and university hospital EMS (UHEMS), located within our catchment area, in newark, new jersey. DCHS will ensure substance use disorder and opioid use disorder programs and services provided by ensuring that IT can provide training and resources for first responders and members of other key community sectors (i.e., faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, schools) on administering and distributing naloxone; and establishing processes, protocols and mechanisms for warm hand-off referrals to appropriate treatment, recovery, harm reduction, and other psychosocial resource support services throughout essex county, new jersey. Specifically, the project will target essex county first responders, community groups, and local residents in need of trainings to prevent/reduce opioid overdoses; and, essex county residents with an opioid use disorder (OUD) and/or those who experience a non-fatal, opioid-related overdose, with a focus on underserved populations severely impacted by OUD and overdoses, specifically african american and hispanic/latino residents. Utilizing a combination of a post-overdose response team, naloxone/basic CPR trainings, expanding naloxone distribution, and implementing a countywide OUD hotline, the DCHS county cara project will strengthen our opioid overdose response effort throughout essex county and enhance the opportunities for SUD/OUD continuum of care programming to be available to those in need.