PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Community Health Improvement Plan has been awarded a $200,000 federal grant for the next year to work on improving opioid and behavioral health treatment and recovery.
The Rural Communities Opioid Response grant is awarded by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the grant time runs from June 1 to May 31, 2020, according to a press release from Jefferson County Public Health.
Jefferson County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) involves a variety of stakeholders to build a working consortium bent on improving resources and finding ways to improve them, as well build new resources such as a crisis stabilization center within Jefferson County to find long term solutions, according to the press release.
Main priorities are access to care — including mental health care — immunizations, healthy eating, active living and chronic disease prevention.
“Right now, if the police or emergency medical services are summoned because of a mental health- or drug-related crisis, people are either sent to jail or the emergency room, and it’s just an endless cycle for a lot of people,” said John Nowak, CHIP co-director.
That recurring cycle wastes community resources and taxpayer funds and the people who need help are not receiving the treatment they need, said Lori Fleming, CHIP co-director, in an email.
The group is now in early stages of planning, Fleming said.
The initial work will be considering if a crisis stabilization center (CSC) is possible within Jefferson County and if not, other plans will have to be made to make an impact on the community.
“Our priority on this long-term solution is for the consortium to follow the CSC exploration as far as we can,” Fleming said.
“Then, if feasibility is not established, to pivot to exploring another long term solution if the initial research reveals a CSC not to be feasible. Other alternatives we might explore could include a crisis response team that is on 24/7 call and deployed in the field, as opposed to bringing someone into a facility.”
Another goal is to procure funding for a navigator/social worker embedded with Jefferson County first responders, such as Jud Haynes is at the Port Townsend Police Department, but serving the rest of Jefferson County, Fleming said.
The CHIP partnership is a collaboration between Jefferson Healthcare and Jefferson County Public Health, in a combined effort to identify the most pressing health priorities with Jefferson County, according to the press release.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5 or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
