Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs (SPF Rx)
(WV DHHR, Bureau of Behavioral Health and Health Facilities)
WV SPF Rx program is to enhance and expand infrastructure and develop and implement prescription drug prevention efforts in West Virginia. Goals of the program include:
Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention for States
(WV DHHR, Bureau for Public Health)
Prevent prescription drug overdoses by addressing problematic opioid prescribing. While the primary purpose of this funding is prescription drug overdose prevention, it also presents opportunities to advance surveillance and evaluation efforts to respond to the increase in heroin overdose deaths.
Enhanced State Surveillance of Opioid-Involved Morbidity and Mortality
(WV DHHR, Bureau for Public Health)
To improve timeliness of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdose surveillance to public health partners so they can respond to drug overdoses in a timely manner.
Strategic Prevention Framework Prescription Drug/Opioid Overdose (WV SPF PDO)
(WV DHHR, Bureau of Behavioral Health and Health Facilities)
Turn the tide of the current opioid/opiate overdose epidemic in WV by implementing and supporting a data-driven and collaborative process for prevention, overdose mortalities, emergency department visits, hospitalizations and other OD related outcome among adults in high-risk WV communities/regions.
State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grant (STR)
(WV DHHR, Bureau for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities)
Increase access to OUD treatment; supplement evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery activities pertaining to opioids currently undertaken; and support a comprehensive response to the opioid epidemic statewide.
West Virginia DEA 360
University of Charleston School of Pharmacy
www.ucwv.edu/pharmacy
Initiatives to address the problem.
To date, Marshall has utilized our faculty and staff to find solutions to address the problem. In October 2016, Marshall University announced the formation of a substance use recovery coalition to find holistic, evidenced based solutions to the addiction problem and its negative effects on our community and state. To date, the coalition’s plan addresses individuals across the continuum of care, focusing on education, prevention, early intervention and treatment services, and recovery. We are working with partners from around the state to implement cutting edge services and programs. The coalition has brought in roughly 11.8 million dollars in funding to the community and state over a short period of time. These funds have assisted with establishing services for women with substance use disorders and their children, enhance treatment services for children affected with NAS, provided Quick Response Teams to assist individuals who have experienced an overdose into treatment, increased our addiction training with the community and health care professionals, increased our behavioral health workforce, and put Marshall in the forefront of research focusing on addiction.
Addiction Sciences
Marshall recently announced the addition of Dr. Daniel Langleben who will direct the Joan C Edwards School of Medicine’s efforts in Addiction Sciences. Dr. Langleben brings a wealth of knowledge in regards to treating substance use disorders, along with an extensive background and publications in addiction research. This position was able to be funded with a generous endowment for $1.2 million from the Maier Foundation.
Marshall Recovery Center for Families (MRCFF)
Funded through a new grant from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ Ryan Brown Addiction Prevention and Recovery Fund, MRCFF will provide trauma-informed residential treatment services that offer intensive, clinically-managed residential care and support for pregnant and postpartum women and their children.
Healthy Connections
Healthy Connections was formed to help bridge the relationship between campus and organizations in the City of Huntington to unite local efforts in order to increase services for children and their families. To date, Healthy Connections includes more than 25 groups, including Marshall University, its Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and Marshall Health and 20 different community agencies. Healthy Connections has recently been awarded two grants. The Sisters of St. Joseph Health and Wellness Foundation and the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership have provided funding for two family navigators. A significant piece of Healthy Connections is River Valley CARES (Center for Addiction Research, Education and Support), a project creating a continuum of care for infants exposed to substances in utero, along with mothers and their families. The former Enterprise Child Development Center will serve as the main facility for the initiative.
Maternal Addiction Recovery Center (MARC)
The MARC program provides comprehensive obstetrical care, outpatient addiction care and counseling for expectant mothers with opiate addiction. This program has been in place since 2013, but has expanded in recent months.
Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT)
Marshall University’s SBIRT is an evidence-based approach focused on early intervention and treatment of individuals at risk for developing a substance use disorder (SUD). SBIRT promotes universal screening of all individuals to identify use, early risks and abuse in order to intervene appropriately. Marshall’s SBIRT program is multi-disciplinary program comprised of seven departments and two professional schools, including the departments of Psychology, Social Work, Counseling, Public Health, Health Sciences, Nursing and Physical Therapy, and the School of Pharmacy and the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. To date, the funded program from SAMHSA has assisted Marshall in training over 3,600 individuals.
Behavioral Health Workforce Education Training Grant (BHWET)
The Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training grant through HRSA is targeted funding to support the training of behavioral health professionals to work with underserved populations within an integrated behavioral health care framework. This framework emphasizes the use holistically, focused multi-disciplinary teams working out of primary care clinics to deliver effective and accessible services. Marshall received funds to support the training of counselors, school psychologists, masters level clinical psychologists, and psychiatry residents in integrated primary care setting.
Seeds of Change
Funding from Transforming Recovery, the Seeds of Hope grant, will provide funding, technical assistance, and mentorship as Marshall works to increase its collegiate recovery efforts. Marshall recognizes the needs of students in recovery as they navigate higher education and will provide support to aid students in their recovery process and with their academic successes.
Marshall Health Professions
This spring, the Department of Social Work, in conjunction with other departments, will be opening a behavioral health clinic to address some of the mental health needs on campus and in the community. They have already begun services to the women at the Cabell County Drug Court. The clinic will provide an opportunity for campus to assist with the needs of the community, but will also provide a learning opportunity for our students.
Targeted Clinical Care Partnerships
Provides primary care and other health care services to participants in the Cabell-Huntington Adult Drug Court as well as assistance to recovery programs throughout the tristate.
Other areas of partnerships.
Quick Response Teams
In partnerships with the City of Huntington, Marshall University, and Marshall Health has helped obtain two federal grants to start the Quick Response Team. The Team is comprised of a police officer, an EMT, and either a recovery coach or clinician. The coordinator of the Team is with Cabell County Emergency Services. The Team began work in early December by following up with people who have overdosed to help them get into treatment. During the first week, six individuals were assisted into treatment.
Faith Community United
Faith Community United, comprised of community volunteers, clergy, addiction specialists and trainers, and concerned citizens, works to coordinate the needs of the faith community in the tristate region as it relates to the opioid epidemic. The group has provided monthly training opportunities, including six sessions provided to spiritual leaders in the community to educate, empower, and enhance their response to those struggling with the disease of addiction, family members, congregations, and the larger community. To date, four of the sessions have been successfully completed with an attendance that averages around 50 people of faith.
Harm Reduction
The Marshall University School of Pharmacy and Social Work Department continue to provide assistance with Cabell-Huntington Health Department’ Harm Reduction Program. The Pharmacy School students assist daily with the syringe exchange and offer Naloxone training once a week and as needed. The Social Work Department is working to expand the harm reduction program by aiding patients with housing, aiding recovery coaches in connecting patients with treatment, and finding ways to help people heal mentally before they are prepared to stop using substances. Marshall’s Psychology and Counseling Department hope to begin to assist with services this coming spring.
Lily’s Place
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Sean Loudin, M.D., serves as medical director for the first Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) Center in the United States. Lily’s Place provides medical care to infants suffering from NAS and offers non-judgmental support, education, and counseling services to families and caregivers.
Project Engage with Local Hospitals
A Regional Health Summit Workshop, sponsored by the Cabell Huntington Hospital in collaboration with Marshall Health, was held in Huntington on early intervention and referral to substance use disorder treatment in the health care setting. Dr. Terry Horton, Chief of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Christiana Health System in Delaware presented “A Health System’s Response to the Opioid Epidemic.” Dr. Horton’s presentation included an overview of the opioid crisis and Christiana Health System’s response to the crisis through development of Project Engage, a health care-based approach where hospital staff identify patients who may be struggling with substance use to effectively connect them with treatment programs and other resources during hospitalization. Following the Regional Summit Workshop, health care, and community partners in Huntington are continuing to evaluate steps to integrate the model.
Regional Partnership to Increase the Well-Being of and to Improve the Permanency Outcomes of Children (RPG)
Working in collaboration on a grant through Prestera Center, this project will form a regional partnership to provide intensive case management and related support services to children affected by substance use and their families without cost to the families. In order to improve the child’s well-being, safety and permanency, this project will offer intensive case management services, including screening, assessment and evaluation; individual care plans for all family members; referrals for substance use disorder treatment, behavioral health services including trauma-specific services; medical health treatment; interventions that improve parenting capacity and family functioning; services that support family reunification; ancillary services such as assistance in securing safe housing, transportation, employment and child care; and other services. In addition, the regional partnership will improve capacity by increasing workforce and by providing needed workforce training in family interventions.
Cabell County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership (CCSAPP)
Marshall University has been a CCSAPP partner since it began and staff members from campus assisted with its creation and development. CCSAPP, affiliated with the United Way of the River Cities, is a coalition of various agencies, organizations and individuals working together to reduce local substance abuse with strong collaborative partnerships and community ownership, using awareness, education and community-wide solutions. CCSAPP is primarily funded by the federal Drug Free Communities Support Program and a sub-grant of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant administered through the WV Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. CCSAPP provides prevention programs to local schools in Cabell County.
West Virginia Collegiate Initiative to Address Substance Use and Mental Health (WVCIA)
Marshall University was a founding member of WVCIA and staff members have served as the coalitions chair. WVCIA is a state-wide coalition of various institutions of higher education. Our mission is to provide evidenced based practices and programs to higher education Students in WV. Our primary focus in on the prevention and early intervention of substance misuse and mental health issues.