Recovery Efforts Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Lawmakers Debate Vaccine Exemptions And Cuts To Medicaid Could Affect Recovery Efforts, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, two lawmakers that are also doctors spoke with Eric Douglas about legislation aimed at providing exemptions to childhood immunizations, and Us & Them looks at the effect of Medicaid cuts on recovery efforts.

On this West Virginia Morning, Del. Matt Rohrbach and Sen. Tom Takubo spoke with Eric Douglas about legislation aimed at providing exemptions to childhood immunizations currently making its way through the legislature in the latest episode of The Legislature Today.

And from the latest episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay learns how Medicaid supports recovery organizations and what that work looks like as Trump administration spending cuts may be targeting some low-income health care efforts.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Maria Young produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

First Foundation Receives Nearly 200 Applications During First Grant Cycle

Nearly 200 organizations applied for opioid settlement money from the first round of funding from the foundation responsible for its distribution.

The board of the foundation responsible for distributing West Virginia’s opioid settlement funds met Thursday to discuss its first grant cycle and hiring of staff.

Treasurer Jeff Sandy reported a balance of $225,683,388.71 as of September 30, 2024. The Foundation has earned $8,912,258.29 from investments of its initial settlement funds in the past year.

According to Sandy, the board’s September expenses were $80,942.55. The board approved the financial report and its publication on the West Virginia First Foundation’s (WVFF) website.

Governor-appointed board member representing Region 2 and Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Harvey serves as chair of the board.

He explained that the board will no longer be taking questions from the media and public during their monthly virtual meetings, citing privacy concerns.

“We’re going to again request that all questions for today’s meeting be submitted by email, and responses will be provided rapidly,” Harvey said. “We want to make sure that we’re fair and equitable to all the grant seekers in order to do that and out of an abundance of caution and to be thoughtful and thorough.”

Executive Director, Jonathan Board highlighted the completion of the Initial Opportunity Grants (IOG) application cycle, with 174 applications received, primarily in youth prevention and workforce development.

The target areas for the IOG were diversion programs, which help people arrested for drug use avoid conviction and incarceration by diverting them to treatment options instead, and interdiction programs, which work to prevent illicit drugs from reaching their destinations.

Target areas also included youth prevention and workforce development, child advocacy centers, neonatal abstinence programs and transitional and recovery housing expansion.

“It has been a lot of late nights and a lot of early mornings and a lot of just pulling 24 hours to get this out the door,” Board said. “As you know, we just closed the deadline there on those applications this past Saturday, and (we are) very excited, we were performing intake review on the applications to determine compliance of the requirements of the IOG application.”

Board reported the majority of applications came from Region 4 which includes county and local governments in Monongalia, Braxton, Lewis, Harrison, Marion, Preston, Taylor, Tucker, Barbour, Randolph, Gilmer, Doddridge and Upshur counties.

Applications were due on October 5, 2024 by 11:59 p.m. and Board said they were receiving applications until the last moment.

“We’re very excited to go through those,” Board said. “So the intake process is occurring right now, and that is an objective standard.”

Applications will be reviewed by the Interim Grant Committee and the Expert Panel. Final approval will be made by the Board of Directors.

“If those items were submitted in their complete application that goes into a specific folder, both by region and by target area,” Board explained. “Those will then be presented to those who are assigned to score, both from the IOG and, of course, all of our expert panelists that we use the scoring rubric that was established in the application that will then be taken by target area. Those highest scoring will go forward onto the board of directors, and again, we’ll apply that conflict policy throughout the process, and then it gets up to the board of directors to review and score.”

Awards will be announced on or before Dec. 31. Grantees will first receive 40 percent of their total allotment up front, then file financial statements with the foundation documenting the use of the funds to receive three more installments of 20 percent of the allotment to complete the award.

The WVFF board approved $19.2 million in IOG during its meeting on Sept. 5. That is about 8.5 percent of the funds the foundation currently holds, according to its July financial statement. West Virginia is expected to receive about $1 billion after all its opioid settlement lawsuits are paid out.

Board highlighted the Foundation’s commitment to avoiding conflict of interest during the IOG or future grant cycles.

“Board members shall not be permitted to participate in the Iog application process,” Board said. “If there’s a direct or indirect conflict of interest, any member of the board whose organization is responding to an IOG application has to fully recuse themselves and be removed from the process and not participate in any review scoring or vote in the target area or areas in which they apply.”

Board also introduced the Foundation’s new employees.

Chief of Staff, Jessicah Cross has been with the Foundation for three weeks and previously worked for the U.S. Senate.

Director of Operations, Rachel Thaxton, is in her second week at the Foundation and previously worked as the interim and assistant director of the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy.

“As the foundation’s sole employee for the past three and a half, four months, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have some folks standing alongside and especially of this, this acumen and wisdom,” Board said.

Board said he expects all hiring to be complete by mid-November. The foundation meets the first Thursday of each month, subject to change. Updates are posted on the foundation’s website.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Applications Open For First Round Of W.Va. Opioid Settlement Grants

The foundation responsible for dispersing West Virginia’s opioid settlement money has approved the launch of the application process for its first grant cycle.

The West Virginia First Foundation’s (WVFF) board approved $19.2 million in Initial Opportunity Grants during its meeting on Sept. 5. That is about 8.5 percent of the funds the foundation currently holds, according to its July financial statement. West Virginia is expected to receive about $1 billion in total after all its opioid settlement lawsuits are paid out.

“The need is now,” Jonathan Board, executive director of the WVFF, said. “The need is greater today than it was yesterday, and it’ll be greater tomorrow than it is today.”

The 2024 Initial Opportunity Grants focus on four target areas that have been identified by the Initial Opportunity Committee, formed during August’s board meeting. Those four areas are considered critical in the fight against the opioid crisis and are prioritized for funding.

“We talked with our board members, we talked with the Initial Opportunity Committee, all of whom have their own lived experience. They have direct access to these services, and they know where the gaps in services are, and so taking all of that together, they targeted these areas that would have the most immediate impact across the state, not just one region, but throughout the state,” Board said.

The Target Areas include diversion programs, which help people arrested for drug use avoid conviction and incarceration by diverting them to treatment options instead, and interdiction programs, which work to prevent illicit drugs from reaching their destinations.

Target Areas also include youth prevention and workforce development, child advocacy centers, neonatal abstinence programs and transitional and recovery housing expansion.

“We didn’t want to be exclusive,” Board said. “We want to make sure that this is equitably applied to everyone. So whether you’re a small shop that’s focused on healing one individual at a time, or a really large organization that’s working with hundreds of folks throughout the state, we want to make sure everyone has an equal voice.”

During this first round of funding, each of the state’s six regions could receive $800,000 per Target Area, with up to four awards per Target Area per region.

“We do see future grants being larger and more often,” Board said. “The amount that was chosen was a way that we could ensure that every region had an equal amount, instead of just based on a share, developed by some other mathematical equation. We wanted everyone to have equal access to an equal amount.”

This grant cycle is open to tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, tax-exempt organizations under IRC 115 or other similar organizations that fulfill a charitable or public purpose, excluding for-profit entities.

While not mandatory, applicants are encouraged to submit a Notice of Intent to Apply. According to the foundation’s website, this notice will remain confidential and does not extend the application deadline.

Applications are due before midnight on Oct. 5, via PDF file, sent by email to the Foundation Contact and Executive Director, Jonathan Board at iog@wvfirst.org.

Applications will be reviewed by the Interim Grant Committee and the Expert Panel. Final approval will be made by the Board of Directors.

“We want to know where the money is going and how it’s going, and probably most importantly if they need assistance in working through the process and advancing the mission and vision of each organization because that becomes a part of us,” Board said.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Foundation Director Challenges Opioid Settlement Board To Distribute Funds Before 2025

The executive director of the organization responsible for dispersing West Virginia’s opioid settlement funds challenged board members to award funds by the end of the year.

The board that manages the state’s opioid settlement funds moved one step closer to distributing funds this week.

Through settlements from various lawsuits with opioid manufacturers and distributors, West Virginia stands to gain about $1 billion over the next 10 to 15 years to be spent on recovery and prevention programs.

In March 2023, the West Virginia Legislature established the West Virginia First Foundation, a private nonprofit organization, to handle 72.5 percent of the state’s settlement funds. Another 24.5 percent of settlement money will go to local governments, whilehe remaining three percent will be held by the state in escrow to cover any outstanding attorney’s fees.

The Legislature required that the Foundation have a board seated, an executive director hired, banking set up, and more before it could begin distributing funds.

The board appointed members of its Statewide Expert Panel, as required by the legislature, at its monthly meeting Thursday Aug. 1.

The panel includes state leaders who will help guide funding decisions and develop a comprehensive approach to addressing West Virginia’s struggles with opioids and substance use disorders.

The board opened its August meeting by introducing the panelists who were able to attend the call before voting to approve its members.

Members of the panel include:

Emily Birckhead, the executive director of the West Virginia Alliance of Recovery Residences
Adam Crawford, a director for the general division emergency department of Charleston Area Medical Center
Jess Grundy, a criminal justice program director at the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security
Laura Lander, an associate professor of behavioral medicine and psychiatry at West Virginia University
William Marshall, a commissioner for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitations
Christina Mullins, the deputy secretary of mental health and substance use disorders at the West Virginia Department of Human Service
Greg Puckett, a Mercer County commissioner and director for nonprofit Community Connections.

The inaugural term of the expert panel, who are volunteers, will run through the end of the year.

Next on the agenda, Executive Director of the Foundation, Jonathan Board reported his accomplishments since taking on the role in May before challenging the Foundation to award funds by the end of the year.

“The reality is the foundation has existed for a year, and I know there’s still a lot to accomplish, but I’d like to challenge the foundation to get money out reasonably between November and December of this year,” Board said.

Several members of the foundation’s board also expressed frustration with the time it is taking for the foundation to award money, while others expressed concerns about being flooded with applications and that the state’s needs assessment has not been completed.

Mayor of Parkersburg, Tom Joyce called the pace of the Foundation “glacial” and said while he recognizes the Foundation has to be careful, the need is urgent.

“What if the mother of all recovery programs has something and we say, “Well, sorry, you guys, you sit tight, we’ll be ready for you first quarter of next year,” Joyce said. “I mean, I think we just need to kind of bite the bullet and prepare ourselves. The expert panel, they signed up for it, right? They all seemed excited. Or, you know, appreciative and eager. So maybe there’s going to be a lot a lot of applications.”

Joyce explained that the programs that will eventually receive the settlement money will need time to plan for their own finances and grant applications.

“It’s frustrating me because folks that at least in this region want to know, ‘When can I make an application to expand my program? When can I make an application to start a new program?’ And all I can tell them is ‘Well, we got a meeting next week, we’ll see,” Joyce said.

Berkeley County Community Corrections Director and board member, Tim Czaja said he understands the need to distribute the money properly but agreed with Joyce and said his constituents have been asking about timelines.

“I have a lot of people who are here on me, asking regularly, ‘What’s going on, what’s happening? When can we request funds?’ And I keep having to say, ‘I’m not sure yet. We don’t have a concrete plan in place. There’s a lot of work that has to be done,’” Czaja said. “I recognize that this does need to be done very thoughtfully and appropriately and we don’t want to just be throwing money out the door just because we feel like we want to do it. It needs to be done properly. So I trust that you’re gonna put in work needed to make it happen appropriately.”

After an hour of discussion, Board suggested a committee be formed to assist in a short-term funding project.

“A group that could sort of work with the expert panel and myself and review themselves, the work product that’s being produced, that would be a great assistance and blessing to me,” Board said.

The board created The Initial Opportunity Committee to develop a short-term, one-time disbursement process, while the organization works to meet the rest of its legislative mandates and create the full application process.

“The idea is to create an out-of-system process to get money out in the next coming months,” said Attorney for the Foundation, John Bshara. “So what’s after that takes place, then the needs based assessment process will be used and that was the subsequent discussion about the needs-based assessment will take a long period of time to develop. So the idea is this interim policy that will probably be used one time, will be used in order to get money out the door more quickly.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Recovery Day Draws Crowds At W.Va. Capitol

Advocates and recovery experts filled the capitol rotunda on Monday to educate lawmakers about substance use disorder.

One of the big issues facing people in recovery is reintegrating into society.

Nic Cochran is the director of Youth Services System, an organization that helps people in recovery reintegrate into society after incarceration or treatment at a rehab facility.

“We exclusively work with people who have a substance use disorder,” Cochran said. “But yes, recovery is a broad term because we also have to talk about reentry, the impacts of incarceration on the people with SUD (substance use disorder) is massive, we see so many people incarcerated.”

In a partnership with recovery homes and Uplift West Virginia, Youth Services System displayed a memorial to the people in the state lost to overdose.

“So we’re inviting people to write the names of anyone lost to overdose on the bricks, or to light a candle if they don’t feel comfortable writing the name,” Cochran said. “But the candles are also representing somebody who we wish was in recovery, or maybe somebody who used to be in recovery, or, or even people who are still in recovery, and we just want to celebrate that.”

Cochran said a big part of Recovery Day is to be a visible example for lawmakers to break down stigma.

“Substance use disorder is criminalized so heavily,” Cochran said. “We really need additional support in order to recover, in order to have treatment and to be rehabilitated so that we can become contributing members of society. So if I had anything to say to legislators, that’s what it would be, you know, we’re people, please treat us like people. And let’s get over the stigma.”

The West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute was also featured at Recovery Day. Their receptionist, Rhiannon Wiseman, said she was there to educate the public and lawmakers about the One Box.

“The One Box is an opioid overdose response kit. You open it up, it’ll walk you through an overdose step by step,” Wiseman said. “Now whether you, a lot of people, can’t respond to an overdose or any traumatic circumstances – they kind of freak out. There’s no guesswork. It walks you right through it.”

Wiseman said it is important to have harm reduction resources like One Box available everywhere.

“Opioid overdose can happen absolutely anywhere in homes, businesses, schools, libraries, doctor’s office, it doesn’t matter,” Wiseman said. “They happen everywhere now.”

Wiseman added that Naloxone, or Narcan, is safe for everyone and encouraged others to be trained in administering the opioid overdose reversal drug.

Cabell County Commission Approves Audit of Harm Reduction Program

The Cabell County Commission approved a resolution seeking an evaluation and audit of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department’s syringe exchange program.

Syringe exchanges are widely seen by public health experts as a key measure in preventing the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs.

“We feel that our effort has been successful while we search for people who are afflicted with this illness and get them the help they need,” said Dr. Michael E. Kilkenny, executive director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department. “So these restrictions have had some impact on our ability to prevent disease.”

The audit of Cabell-Huntington’s program comes over a year after a new state law went into effect, Senate Bill 334, which requires programs offering syringe exchanges to host a number of other harm reduction services, force them to deny clean needles to those who don’t return with their used needles and require them to only serve clients with state IDs in order to operate.

“As a licensed entity we are fully aware that we are subject to review by not only Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC), who issues our license but also by our main granting organizations through the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) so we are certainly open and willing,” Dr. Kilkenny said. “We are actually even eager to have an inspection and make sure that we are complying with all aspects of the law. We are hopeful that the audit will provide clarity to the county commission.”

Kilkenny noted that the Cabell-Huntington Health Department’s syringe exchange program informed national harm reduction strategies and said he sees the audit as an opportunity to show success within the program and inform local citizens about the program’s benefits.

“I think we have established the basic understanding of Appalachian injection drug use and that has been used to inform the national strategy and we have been informed by the national strategy as we work toward that 2030 goal,” Dr. Kilkenny said. “I think that is what they are looking for and I think they will better understand what it is we do and how effective it is.”