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With a federal grant of nearly $ 650,000, the County of St. Mary's Department of Health will create an information database for community partners to better address the epidemic outbreak. # 39; opioids.
The St. Mary's Health Department is one of many organizations across the country to receive funding from the Justice Department's $ 320 million investment in the fight against the opioid epidemic Nationwide, according to a statement sent on Tuesday. The city of Salisbury, Cecil County and the state's Department of Health are among the grants to Maryland agencies for $ 2.7 million.
Dr. Meena Brewster, head of health at St. Mary's, said the $ 648,221 in federal funding would be distributed over a three-year period to create an information database to share between community partners such as health service, local and local law enforcement. responders.
She said it was the first time in at least five years that the Ministry of Health received direct funding from the federal government. This could be an opportunity to prove that the department is "able to implement [the funding] significantly "and receive more funds to address" other areas of public health, "she said.
She added that she wanted "to take all possible measures based on the data" to make informed decisions in the fight against the epidemic of opioids. She said the creation of the database would help "improve the way we respond".
Greg Ford, Public Health Emergency Planner for the Department of Health, said the county partners facing the crisis had different ways of looking at the associated data. While the St. Mary's Department of Health and MedStar Hospital can review the number of emergency room opioid visits, the sheriff's office has "data from their own collection tools."
Brewster said that there are limits to what can be shared because of legal requirements.
She stated that the database was "not a panacea", but that she could at least "help identify how to use the data" and better understand how to fight overdoses of any kind. opioids in the region. She added that the choice of the database for the public has not yet been determined, the cost being a possible reason not to expand access. She said the geocoding could be used to identify overdose hot spots in the county, but that the information could not be shared with the public, because the location of the incident could indirectly reveal the ## 147 ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # 39 identity of those who overdosed.
She added that the database could also help identify missing information such as the number of people going to their local pharmacies to take doses of naloxone, the anti-overdose drug commonly sold as Narcan. .
Brewster said the continued development of the database "could lead us to develop" new ways to fight the crisis and identify the people most at risk of overdose.
Naloxone training is available at the health department, said Brewster, adding that people can "go home with a kit" containing a dose of the drug if they need it.
She added that naloxone is available in pharmacies all over the state and can be ordered via a "permanent order" from the state. She added that Medicaid clients can buy a dose for a dollar or get a fee if they can not afford it.
Although the health department has doses of naloxone, it's "not a place to renew," and it's not a pharmacy, Brewster said.
People looking for help can call the 24/7 hotline in case of a Walden crisis at 301-863-6661 or Phone support at the statewide, the 211.
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