Doses of Narcan, used to treat emergency opioid overdoses.
McDowell County is expected to receive a total of almost $4 million spread out over an 18-year period from the massive $26 billion settlement with drug companies over opioid misuse.
This money has to be used to fight the problem of opioid addiction and substance misuse in our local community and local leaders are working on how to best use it.
Recently, the Dogwood Health Trust announced a $600,000 grant to McDowell County government and partners Freedom Life Ministries and the McDowell Substance Use Coalition. This grant, spread out over a two-year period, will be used by McDowell County leaders, in partnership with the Substance Use Coalition, to connect with local residents and find the best use of the much bigger money that will come here from the opioid lawsuit settlement.
The $26 billion global settlement with Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen — the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors — and Johnson & Johnson was announced in July of last year. More than 3,300 lawsuits, largely by state and local governments, are pending seeking to hold those and other companies responsible for an opioid abuse crisis that led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths, according to online sources.
McDowell County was one of those many local governments throughout the nation that agreed to participate in this multi-billion dollar settlement.
County Manager Ashley Wooten said the McDowell Board of Commissioners have endorsed collaborating with Freedom Life and the McDowell Substance Use Coalition on a planning process for the money that is anticipated to be received from the national opioid lawsuit. Part of the collaboration involved applying for the Dogwood Health Grant, which will help with the planning effort, he added.
Danny Hampton, executive director of Freedom Life, said his nonprofit ministry is partnering with the county and the Substance Use Coalition to work on the problems of opioid addiction and other drug problems in the community.
“Substance misuse is the No. 1 health problem in McDowell County,” he said to The McDowell News.
Early in 2021, these partners received a $525,000 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. This grant, spread out over a three-year period, allowed for the hiring of a full-time Substance Use Coalition director, Angela Grubb, who will focus on the problem of drug use. Because of its nonprofit status, Freedom Life served as the conduit for getting this KBR grant.
The $525,000 grant from KBR allowed local leaders to partner with the N.C. Institute for Public Health out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the N.C. Center for Health and Wellness out of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Together, they will work on how to connect with local people at the grassroots, organizations and the churches on fighting the drug problems in McDowell.
Then, McDowell County, Freedom Life and the Substance Use Coalition sought to get another grant from the Dogwood Health Trust. The purpose of the two-year planning grant is to get local partners together and figure out the most impact from the bigger money coming from the $26 billion opioid settlement, said Hampton.
“It was given to McDowell County government but Freedom Life and the Substance Use Coalition wrote the grant in partnership with the county,” Hampton told The McDowell News.
With the Dogwood Trust grant, McDowell will get $600,000 over a two-year period. This will allow for hiring another person to oversee this effort and work with the full-time Substance Use Coalition director.
In addition, four part-time community liaisons will be hired and they will work with the West Marion Community Forum, the Marion East Community Forum, the Old Fort Community Forum and Centro-Unido Latino Americano.
“We will have a person in those four community areas conducting research and community collaboration,” Hampton said. “The Dogwood funding has granted us this capacity.”
Furthermore, Dogwood Health Trust wanted to see multiple counties working together to address the opioid problems that are across the region.
Freedom Life will partner with Avery County and some of the funding will go toward the planning and development of establishing a pre- and post-release program for people who have been incarcerated. Freedom Life will open an office in Avery County to address the substance use problems for people there who have been released from incarceration. Hampton said people who are getting out of prison are the highest risk when it comes to drug overdose.
“McDowell County will no longer be known as ‘MethDowell,’” reads the grant application to the Dogwood Trust. “Instead, it will be known as a unified and caring community fully resourced and engaged in comprehensively addressing substance misuse needs, and will have begun experiencing many personal and socio-economic benefits.
“Justice-involved individuals in Avery County will no longer have to live in hopeless struggle, but will have the opportunity and support to live new lives of sustained recovery and hope.”
Now that the Dogwood grant has been received, it is up to community leaders to make the best use of it and plan for the bigger money that is coming.
McDowell County is expected to get $210,000 a year, on average, for an 18-year period from the $26 billion opioid settlement. This equates to a total of $3.78 million and it has to be used for opioid/substance misuse needs within the community.
“How do we know what is the best investment of that funding?” Hampton said. “That is what the Kate B. Reynolds and Dogwood Health Trust funding is giving county leadership in partnership with the McDowell Substance Use Coalition the resourcing and capacity to research and determine. Every penny needs to be invested to the maximum potential.”
He added the first part of that money could come as early as April.
Last week, Dogwood Health Trust announced nearly $2.7 million in funding from its first round of opioid-related collaborative planning grants. Buncombe, Graham, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Rutherford, Transylvania and Yancey counties all received a grant to assist with planning and preparing to use the funding that is expected to be distributed from the state as a result of the national opioid settlement, according to a news release.
“As a result of the historic $26 billion national opioid settlement agreement, every county in our state is expected to get a boost in funding for their opioid remediation efforts,” said Dr. Susan Mims, interim CEO of Dogwood Health Trust. “The timing of this settlement is fortunate since substance misuse and related deaths have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal is to ensure the region establishes the necessary collaborations and plans now, so western North Carolina is well equipped to use the settlement funds when available to improve health and well-being across the region.”
Each opioid planning grant provides up to $300,000 per year for up to two years to support collaborative planning projects between counties, municipalities or tribal nations and 501©(3) organizations and other community partners that align with the Memorandum of Agreement that governs the use of opioid settlement funds in North Carolina.
Opioid planning proposals may include requests for support of the following:
Facilitation and/or coordination of collaborative planning
Needs assessment, data collection and/or analysis
Partnership building
Development of workforce, implementation, and/or sustainability plans
Capacity building
Technical assistance
Administration/reporting
“Western North Carolina should soon be able to leverage significant resources towards our efforts to reduce opioid overdose mortality throughout the region and impact populations that have been disproportionately affected,” said April Bragg, senior impact officer—behavioral health & substance use disorder. “To that end, we are particularly interested in funding projects that include multi-county planning efforts and collaboratives that include multiple partner organizations.”
In addition, Dogwood Health Trust announced a second round of funding for opioid-related collaborative planning grants available to the counties, municipalities or the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians located in Dogwood’s 18-county service region in western North Carolina, including the Qualla Boundary, according to the news release.
The Request for Proposals (RFP) is posted on Dogwood’s website, and proposals must be received by 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 14. Award notifications will be made by the end of April.
Dogwood Health Trust is a private foundation based in Asheville with the sole purpose of dramatically improving the health and well-being of all people and communities of 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina. Dogwood Health Trust focuses on innovative and equitable ways to address the many factors that contribute to overall health and well-being, with a focus on housing, education, economic opportunity and health and wellness. Dogwood Health Trust works to create a western North Carolina where every generation can live, learn, earn and thrive, with dignity and opportunity for all, no exceptions. To learn more, visit www.dht.org.
'Substance misuse is the No. 1 health problem in McDowell County.' — Danny Hampton, executive director of Freedom Life
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