Mike Meit, Director of Research and Programs for East Tennessee State University College of Public Health’s Center for Rural Health Research and Deputy Director of the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center and Rob Pack, Director, ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center & ETSU Addiction Science Center, presented at the Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit at the following sessions. The summit was held April 18-21, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Deputy Director of the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center.
Understanding and Assessing Rural Recovery Ecosystems
Robust recovery ecosystems provide an environment where individuals can access substance use treatment and recovery support services such as housing and second chance employment, among others. With support from the Fletcher Group, as part of their Rural Community Opioid Response Program (RCORP) Center for Excellence funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, NORC at the University of Chicago and East Tennessee State University College of Public Health are developing a rural recovery ecosystem index to measure the relative strength of rural county-level recovery ecosystems. The rural recovery ecosystem index will be incorporated within an interactive mapping tool to provide access to recovery ecosystem data for community partners to support community planning, programming, and technical assistance designed to strengthen recovery ecosystems throughout the rural United States.
This session will highlight factors present in strong rural recovery ecosystems, provide examples of recovery ecosystem supports implemented in eastern Kentucky, describe the initial development of the rural recovery ecosystem index, and highlight long-term plans for implementation and rollout of the rural recover ecosystem index.
Learning Objectives:
- List aspects of a strong recovery ecosystem
- Describe best practices in terms of establishing a recovery ecosystem, based on experiences in Kentucky and lessons from other areas that have improved alignment of recovery support services
- Assess the strength of a county-level recovery ecosystem using a rural recovery ecosystem index
Presenters:
Michael B. Meit, MA, MPH (also Moderator)
Director of Research and Programs,
Center for Rural Health Research, East Tennessee State University
Deputy Director of the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
Member, Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
Johnson City, Tennessee
Robert Pack, PhD, MPH
Director, ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center & ETSU Addiction Science Center
College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University
ETSU College of Public Health
David Johnson, MSW, ACSW
CEO, Fletcher Group, Inc
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Grant Meyer, MUP, AICP, LEED AP
VP, Project Development
Fletcher Group, Inc.
Lexington, Kentucky
Hope in Eastern Kentucky: Lessons From Previous Decreases in Drug Overdose Deaths
The COVID-19 pandemic created many new challenges for people struggling with substance use and the stakeholders working to support them, as evidenced by the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicating a nationwide increase in drug overdose deaths between 2019 and 2020.
The numbers were particularly concerning in Kentucky, which experienced a nearly 50% increase during that time. In the early days of the pandemic, Kentucky officials acted quickly to remove barriers to care ― relaxing telehealth regulations and ensuring addiction treatment providers could remain open for business. Even so, pandemic-related stress and isolation, coupled with a significant increase in illicit fentanyl and its analogues, created a “perfect storm” for Kentucky’s addiction crisis.
Now, with more people beginning to seek treatment for the substance use issues exacerbated by the pandemic, Kentucky and other states disproportionately impacted by addiction are working to reverse these alarming trends ― and stakeholders are looking to a comprehensive report published earlier this year for guidance.
The study, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence, examines the decrease in drug overdose deaths that Eastern Kentucky counties experienced between 2013 and 2017 ― shedding light on the wide-ranging strategies and policies that should be pursued not just in the Commonwealth but in other areas experiencing high rates of drug overdose mortality.
This session will include insights from the team that conducted the research, as well as key individuals who have been working on the frontlines of Eastern Kentucky's addiction crisis.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the potential factors that led to a decrease in drug overdose deaths in Eastern Kentucky during a time in which most other parts of the region and country were experiencing the opposite trend.
- Apply the findings of this study, which looks at a regional decrease in drug overdose deaths between 2013 and 2017, to the dire addiction crisis we are facing now in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Assess what stakeholders in a region should be doing to reduce drug overdose deaths and identify the policies and strategies that may be most impactful to their efforts.
Presenters:
Michael B. Meit, MA, MPH, Director of Research and Programs (also Moderator)
Center for Rural Health Research, East Tennessee State University
Deputy Director of the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
Member, Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
Tim Robinson, JD, Founder and CEO
Addition Recovery Care
Louisa, Kentucky
Nancy Hale, MA, President and CEO
Operation UNITE
Member, Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
London, Kentucky
Implementation and Evaluation of PEERhelp Rural Communities Opioid Response Program
PEERhelp was started to improve quality of life for individuals in treatment and recovery from substance use disorder (SUD) by addressing their health-related social needs through tailored social support, resource navigation, and advocacy. PEERhelp seeks to assist all people returning from incarceration or treatment for SUD in having a seamless reentry into society with access to the necessary resources and opportunities to succeed. This will decrease the morbidity and mortality of SUD and recidivism in Appalachia. Preparing incarcerated individuals for employment upon their release is a key part of ensuring successful reentry and can lessen the rate of recidivism. PEERhelp brings together various community organizations to form a network of services to combat SUD. Through a multifaceted approach the program educates the community on overcoming the stigma of SUD, educates people with SUD on available services in the community, and helps to guide them into treatment. Specifically, the program provides enhanced counseling for SUD treatment with expanded peer support opportunities, support care coordination to remove barriers to treatment, and connections to gainful employment and sustainable income. PEERhelp hypothesizes that the strength of the program is in the Recovery Community Navigators that use lived experience to navigate participants who are being released from incarceration. Working with an evaluation team from East Tennessee State University, PEERhelp will discuss their ongoing evaluation efforts with session attendees.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the integrated and novel approach of PEERhelp implementation in Appalachia
- Apply strategies outlined in PEERhelp's operational model to participants' own SUD recovery organizations
- Assess the feasibility of implementation of similar models of SUD care in a region
Presenter(s)
Michael B. Meit, MA, MPH, Director of Research and Programs
Center for Rural Health Research, East Tennessee State University
Deputy Director of the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
Member, Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board
Casey M. Carringer, MBA, Director of Clinical Engagement
Ballad Health, Johnson City, Tennessee
Jason T. Pritchard, TN/VA CPRS/RPRS, Recovery Program Manager
Ballad Health PEERhelp, Bristol, Virginia
Moderator:
Matt Niehaus, Principal
McCarthy Strategic Solutions, Frankfort, Kentucky