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The Illinois Department of Social Services receives new federal funding of nearly $ 29 million to help the state fight the opioid crisis.
The federal grant was awarded by the Administration of Addiction and Mental Health Services, a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The total amount the federal government has granted to the state to fund important programs and initiatives to improve and expand access to opioid processing and recovery services for students to $ 61 million.
"These federal funds will allow the state to move forward on the goals and objectives set out in the state opioid action plan and the work done by the Task Force on HIV / AIDS. prevention and intervention of opioid overdoses of the governor, "said Governor Bruce Rauner in a statement. . "The programs supported by this award represent a range of essential services that will prevent people from using opioids and helping people with opioid conditions to start or continue their recovery.
"The initial federal funding has given IDHS and our other task force members the resources to launch and implement many important programs as part of our opioid action plan." said Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti. Force. "This year's significant increase in funding will allow us to expand our efforts even more quickly and embolden those on the front line in this battle to save even more lives."
La Salle County has one of the worst rates of fatal overdose opioids in the state.
The Illinois Department of Public Health recently set up a web page listing the overdose figures reported by county and postal code, at the address idph.illinois.gov/OpioidDataDashboard. The page provides a local overview of the national opioid problem that has worsened in recent years.
Heroin is an opioid, just like fentanyl, methadone and prescription pain relievers. They can be deadly alone or mixed together and / or with alcohol.
Of the 102 counties in Illinois, La Salle County was the fifth in 2017 at the rate of fatal overdoses of opioids, with a rate of almost four fatal overdoses per 10,000 population. However, given that the other four counties have a population of 22,000 to 4,900 inhabitants, La Salle County, with 111,000 inhabitants, would be the worst for counties with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
La Salle County ranks 15th for the highest rate of non-fatal overdoses.
In raw numbers, there were 179 overdoses in the county in 2017, including 40 deaths. In comparison, there were 18 road accidents that year.
These funds will support the expansion of treatment and recovery interventions across the state, including drug-assisted treatment services for people with opioid problems incarcerated in county jails and hospital resources to connect overdose patients to treatment programs in their communities. Convalescent homes resulting from an opioid-related disorder and support services for patients at federally-licensed health centers will also receive a grant. The award will strengthen and enhance the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program, the state's tracking system that helps prevent the misuse of prescription opioids.
"Our teams have worked tirelessly to create programs that help those who need it most," said IDHS Secretary James Dimas. "We have been able to connect thousands of people to the treatment they need and this award will help us strengthen our addictions programs to tackle this epidemic from every angle."
This grant will also expand training to opioid overdose protocols for first responders and expand the availability of naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, commonly known as Narcan. For the 2018 fiscal year alone, IDHS has supported the purchase of over 18,000 naloxone kits for first responders and passers-by. This price will help the IDHS to purchase additional naloxone kits.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control recently awarded nearly $ 3.7 million to the Illinois Department of Public Health as part of a cooperative agreement to respond to opioid seizures.
The funding will strengthen the government's ability to respond quickly to the opioid overdose crisis by improving data collection and prevention efforts. The grant will enable Illinois to increase its ability to identify and report in a timely manner comprehensive data on syndromic surveillance of fatal and nonfatal opioid overdoses.
If you or any of your acquaintances have an opioid-related disorder, call the Opioids and Other Government Substances Helpline at 1-833-2FINDHELP or visit HelplineIL.org.
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