Opioid Prevention Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Prevention Day Brings Students And Advocates To The Capitol

Advocates gathered under the capitol dome Monday to educate lawmakers about the prevention of addictions and mental health struggles.

Organizations from across the state spent Monday morning manning tables throughout the rotunda, educating the public and lawmakers about their prevention efforts against many issues, from gambling to tobacco use.

Sheila Moran is director of marketing and communications for First Choice Services which operates several programs and helplines to provide access to behavioral health and social services.

Moran said while emergency services are vital, she wishes people would reach out before a crisis so First Choice Services can offer them prevention tools.

“There is a strong prevention component, Moran said. “We really wish people would call us sometimes before things get to a crisis, maybe a family member who’s concerned about someone in their life who may be suicidal, they can call our 988 line and they can get a heads up, they can get some advice, some guidance to provide their loved one.”

Moran said she was encouraged by the show of participation and support from youth attending the event.

“I’ve been heartened to see how many of the young people have come up to our table,” she said. “So I think it’s a really different environment than it was many years ago. You know, so many of these kids are involved in clubs and organizations that are talking about some of the dangers.”

One of those student participants was Colt Castle, a seventh grader from Washington Middle School who attended the event as part of the Pocahontas Youth Coalition.

“We will throw parties every month, to give people a sense of community to come to, instead of going out committing crimes and doing drugs,” Castle said.

Castle said his involvement in the group came from a deep sense of community.

“I wanted to help create a better sense of community, so that people wouldn’t go to jail for it, and wouldn’t die because of it,” Castle said.

Debbie Goff with Putnam Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) said her student-led organization chooses which issues to address in their community.

“We come into the community, we do a lot of educating students, it’s student-led, so that students actually decide what issues they want to tackle the most,” Goff said. “Right now, it’s mental health and vaping.”

Goff said she hopes the education SADD provides its participants with will arm them in making decisions in the future.

“I’m not naive enough to think I’m gonna stop every kid from trying something,” Goff said. “But what do they do? What, how do they know? Give them the education and make that choice.”

Federal Monies Proposed To Address Opioid Crisis And Child Care Costs

The Biden-Harris administration is asking Congress for domestic supplemental funding to assist with the opioid crisis and child care costs — some of which would come to West Virginia.

If adopted, West Virginia would receive an estimated $39 million to counter fentanyl trafficking and strengthen addiction treatment, overdose prevention measures and recovery support services.

Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in West Virginia, about 76 percent of the overdose deaths that occurred between May 2022 and May 2023 are due to synthetic opioids, primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

“From this year to the previous year, West Virginia saw, I think, almost 1,500 deaths from overdose, most of those opioid overdoses, and the lion’s share today is driven by fentanyl,” Becerra said. “And so the $1.6 billion that the president is requesting in emergency funding for opioids would really help us target fentanyl. And let states try to make sure that they can catch someone before they overdose.”

According to provisional data from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, for a 12-month period ending in May 2023, 1,184 West Virginians died of an opioid overdose.

West Virginia also stands to gain $107 million for child care, if the domestic supplemental funding request is adopted by Congress.

Becerra said pandemic-era child care stabilization increased the labor force participation for mothers with young children by an additional three percentage points.

“The president’s request is to help extend funding for many of those child care centers, over 61,000 children and their families in West Virginia benefited from those funds, and at least 1,600 childcare providers,” Becerra said. “I think the average cost of childcare in West Virginia is somewhere around $9,000. And we know that the stabilization funds end up saving families over $1,000 a year in their childcare expense per child.”

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the price of child care for an infant in West Virginia is $8,736 per year.

W.Va. Receives $4.4 Million To Fight Opioids

Federal funding was awarded to West Virginia in response to the overdose risk from fentanyl and other opioids.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration announced $4,404,303 in awards to rural communities in West Virginia on Thursday.

“We designed this program to really help rural communities get this kind of support they need to expand access to opioid use disorder treatment, to address the critical needs of families, who are struggling with addiction issues to focus on prevention, treatment and recovery,” Carole Johnson, the administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration said.

These investments aim to expand access to medication to treat opioid use disorder and prevent and address neonatal exposure.

Expanding Access to Medication to Treat Opioid Use Disorder: $2,000,000 will support two awards to rural communities to establish treatment sites for individuals to access medications to treat opioid use disorder. The use of medication to manage opioid use disorder is the standard of care, but not always readily available.
Preventing and Addressing Neonatal Exposure: $2,404,303 will support five awards to develop and implement interventions in rural communities to prevent, treat and care for opioid exposed infants by focusing on systems of care, family supports, and social determinants of health.

Award recipients include the Marshall University Research Corporation, the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine Clinic, Inc., Community Care of West Virginia, Inc., the Logan County Commission, Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center, Inc., West Virginia Perinatal Partnership Inc., and the West Virginia University Research Corporation.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

Student Art Helps Raise Awareness Around Opioids

The contest received more than 2,000 entries from students at 66 middle and elementary schools across West Virginia. The submissions included a mix of drawings, poems and other designs aimed at promoting awareness.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Kiley Ford from Rivesville Elementary & Middle School in Marion County as the winner of this year’s Kids Kick Opioids contest.

Ford’s winning design features a drawing of an animal-like being with bloodshot eyes, its mouth open and tongue sticking out. A pill is visible inside the mouth, and the words “The truth about opioids isn’t hard to swallow” are written on the being’s tongue.

The design will soon appear in newspapers across West Virginia as the attorney general’s next public service announcement.

The West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, West Virginia Association of School Nurses and the Capitol Police helped judge the contest.

Judges also recognized Evee Matheny from Lenore PK-8 School in Mingo County and Hailey Rogers also from Rivesville Elementary & Middle School as the statewide runners-up. Their designs will appear with Ford’s on the attorney general’s website.

Judges recognized winning entries from 65 students overall. Those designs will be displayed in the State Capitol in the fall.

The winning submission to the Kids Kick Opioids competition.

Martinsburg Nonprofit Receives Funding For Substance Use Prevention, Mentorship Programs

Eastern Panhandle nonprofit The Martinsburg Initiative is receiving grant money to help at-risk children and families.

The initiative was created in 2017 as a partnership between multiple groups in the area including the Martinsburg Police Department, Shepherd University, the federal Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and the local school system.

“Our funding comes entirely from grant awards and donations,” Initiative Director Margaret Kursey said. “So that is why this is so important, because without this funding, we would not be able to reach children and families.”

The money comes from the New York-based Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts. The Martinsburg Initiative will use the nearly $150,000 grant to expand their operations to the southern part of Berkeley County, funding the salary of another social worker position in Inwood.

Director Margaret Kursey said the group creates after school and mentorship programs to prevent or mitigate adverse childhood experiences like abuse or neglect, which can cause health concerns later in life. That includes an increased likelihood of substance abuse, according to a joint study by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente.

“When a student is identified as high risk, we provide referrals to community behavioral health services, and we start our family and community outreach services,” Kursey said.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources previously labeled Berkeley County as the fourth most vulnerable county in the state to overdose deaths. According to the most recent DHHR data, there were 84 opioid-related overdose deaths in the county in 2021.