County seeks funds for overdose response team
Team would help steer drug addicts into recovery programs
Graphic by MICHELLE FARNHAM
MEDINA – County officials hope to add another weapon in their fight to combat the opiate epidemic that is devastating area families.
County commissioners approved a grant application that could bring up to $170,000 to the county from a two-year law enforcement diversion program to establish an opioid response team.
The team would consist of a part-time officer from the sheriff’s office working eight hours per week and a full-time chemical dependency clinician employed by Alternative Paths, a Medina-based outpatient health care agency.
Their purpose would be to help clients get into treatment programs to help them deal with their addictions. Gail Houk, director of forensic services for Alternative Paths, would oversee the program.
According to Houk, the team could provide a valuable piece that is now missing in the effort to help people break their addictions.
“We give medical help to people who have overdoses, but we don’t follow up to see how they’re doing afterward,” Houk said. “The response team would contact them later and try to get them into a recovery program.”
Houk said only two other counties, Summit and Lucas, have response teams in place and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine would like to see more. He has made $3 million in grant money available to counties that launch similar programs.
Various other organizations and committees have been trying to deal with the drug problem that has plagued Medina County along with much of the nation.
Gary Hubbard, director of the Medina County Drug Task Force, said that 152 drug overdoses resulting in 25 deaths were reported to county law enforcement agencies through Aug. 9 although confirmation of the cause of some of those deaths was still awaiting toxicology reports.
Last year, 260 overdose cases were reported throughout the county and those resulted in 34 deaths.
Hubbard predicts the 2017 death toll here will continue to rise since July, August and September have been the worst months for drug overdoses in recent years.
The growing drug problem has hardly gone unnoticed in Medina County, which has seen the human toll rising and the strain on the justice system and social services reaching critical proportions.
Hoping to stem the tide of destruction, health and safety leaders around the county have launched a new initiative they hope can curb the illicit drug epidemic that is sweeping the county.
About 75 representatives from health, education and law enforcement agencies formed a new task force earlier this year in hopes of working together to reduce the drug addiction problems facing the county.
Phil Titterington, director of the Medina County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board, said a coordinated effort from the various organizations represented at the meeting was needed to deal with the serious problem afflicting county residents.
Among the members of the new task force is Wadsworth Safety Director Matt Hiscock, who helped organize the Wadsworth Drug Free Coalition in 2014. That Wadsworth coalition has provided a model for the countywide group and done such things as create a 24-hour hotline using volunteers from city government, the schools and churches.
The Wadsworth group also distributes biweekly messages on social media, brings in speakers and helped attract a new drug treatment facility to the city. One of the goals of the Wadsworth coalition was to create a quick response team to help drug victims and their families after an overdose.
County commissioners approved a grant application that could bring up to $170,000 to the county from a two-year law enforcement diversion program to establish an opioid response team.
The team would consist of a part-time officer from the sheriff’s office working eight hours per week and a full-time chemical dependency clinician employed by Alternative Paths, a Medina-based outpatient health care agency.
Their purpose would be to help clients get into treatment programs to help them deal with their addictions. Gail Houk, director of forensic services for Alternative Paths, would oversee the program.
According to Houk, the team could provide a valuable piece that is now missing in the effort to help people break their addictions.
“We give medical help to people who have overdoses, but we don’t follow up to see how they’re doing afterward,” Houk said. “The response team would contact them later and try to get them into a recovery program.”
Houk said only two other counties, Summit and Lucas, have response teams in place and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine would like to see more. He has made $3 million in grant money available to counties that launch similar programs.
Various other organizations and committees have been trying to deal with the drug problem that has plagued Medina County along with much of the nation.
Gary Hubbard, director of the Medina County Drug Task Force, said that 152 drug overdoses resulting in 25 deaths were reported to county law enforcement agencies through Aug. 9 although confirmation of the cause of some of those deaths was still awaiting toxicology reports.
Last year, 260 overdose cases were reported throughout the county and those resulted in 34 deaths.
Hubbard predicts the 2017 death toll here will continue to rise since July, August and September have been the worst months for drug overdoses in recent years.
The growing drug problem has hardly gone unnoticed in Medina County, which has seen the human toll rising and the strain on the justice system and social services reaching critical proportions.
Hoping to stem the tide of destruction, health and safety leaders around the county have launched a new initiative they hope can curb the illicit drug epidemic that is sweeping the county.
About 75 representatives from health, education and law enforcement agencies formed a new task force earlier this year in hopes of working together to reduce the drug addiction problems facing the county.
Phil Titterington, director of the Medina County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board, said a coordinated effort from the various organizations represented at the meeting was needed to deal with the serious problem afflicting county residents.
Among the members of the new task force is Wadsworth Safety Director Matt Hiscock, who helped organize the Wadsworth Drug Free Coalition in 2014. That Wadsworth coalition has provided a model for the countywide group and done such things as create a 24-hour hotline using volunteers from city government, the schools and churches.
The Wadsworth group also distributes biweekly messages on social media, brings in speakers and helped attract a new drug treatment facility to the city. One of the goals of the Wadsworth coalition was to create a quick response team to help drug victims and their families after an overdose.