Laramie County awards $2.1M to community orgs to fight opioid crisis
CHEYENNE – Laramie County has allocated nearly $2.2 million in federal funds to local organizations to help alleviate the impacts of the opioid crisis.
The funds come from the National Opioids Settlement after some pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors were found to be, in part, responsible for the opioid crisis. In 2021, four companies were ordered to pay $26 billion to the federal government over nearly two decades.
Those funds are distributed to the states and then allocated to counties. To date, Wyoming has received $23.6 million of an anticipated $52.9 million in funds to be put toward programs and organizations working to address the opioid crisis.
Last year, the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners formed an Opioid Settlement Task Force to determine how to spend those funds on a local level. Over the next three years, the county will operate a grant program to distribute the funds it receives from the settlement.
In the first trial year of distributing the grant funds, Laramie County received applications from 12 organizations seeking a total of $4,750,511. Of the more than $2.5 million available to distribute, the task force selected six applicants to receive a portion of the funds, for a total of $2,178,888 distributed.
Laramie County Commission Chairman Gunnar Malm, who is also the commission's representative on the task force, said the remaining $403,144 will likely roll over into the next round of funding applications. He said if the program is successful, the county will likely open applications for funds again next year, though it is uncertain at this time how much money will be available in the future.
Gunnar Malm (Official)
Laramie County Commissioner Gunnar Malm
The success of the program will be based on reports the fund recipients submit to the county throughout the year to judge the efficacy of their efforts.
'I'm really excited to get these funds deployed in our community to tackle this really important and dire situation that we see ourselves in, in terms of opioid abuse, and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to make meaningful change,' Malm said.
One of the organizations receiving funds is Recover Wyoming. The Cheyenne-based addiction treatment center will receive the full $89,085 it applied for to expand peer-based recovery services.
Recover Wyoming Executive Director Lana Mahoney said this program will connect those suffering from opioid use disorder with peers in recovery to discuss recovery pathways, provide information and connect them with community resources.
'We recognized that there was a great need for that in the community, and that's part of the reason why we decided to focus our grant application on that specifically, is to provide that peer-based recovery support,' Mahoney said.
Currently, Recover Wyoming has a peer support program with a recovery coach and a telephone recovery support program, but these funds will support a staff hire to focus directly on the population with opioid use disorder. A stipulation of the funds distributed nationally is that they must go toward programs that directly address the opioid crisis.
Additionally, some of the funds will be used by Recover Wyoming for community education and outreach programs like the use of Narcan, also known as naloxone, advocacy work, stigma reduction and how to recognize if someone is experiencing an overdose.
Mahoney said she hopes to continue to apply for this grant in the coming years to help fund the expansion of the peer-based support program.
'I think there's going to be a continued need to support that specific population. And so regardless of if the funds continue or not, we will likely look for alternative resources to continue that work, because I think it's going to be really important,' she said.
Malm said he is pleased with the diversity of applicants that were awarded funds to address the opioid crisis from multiple angles.
'It wasn't just something that we did that was solely law enforcement focused or justice-involved people focused. There was a family component and a health component. And we were able to make sure that we used the funds across the entire community and make sure that we're doing as much good as possible with them,' he said.
The fund recipients are as follows:
* Cheyenne Fire Rescue: $499,954.22 to provide medication assisted treatment (MAT) services in conjunction with the Laramie County Detention Center and Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.
* Cheyenne Regional Medical Center: $499,869.33 to expand alternatives to opioids program, MAT Bridge clinic with CFR and Detention Center.
* HealthWorks: $500,000 to expand opioid abatement services.
* Laramie County Sheriff's Office: $275,000 for expansion/continuation of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program.
* Recover Wyoming: $89,085.26 to expand peer-based recovery to individuals struggling with opioid use disorder.
* Stride: $314,980 to expand plans of safe care in the community.
Some applicants were disqualified from receiving funds based on criteria judged by the task force. Others did not receive funds for reasons like capacity concerns, limited clients served, concern of duplication or not being opioid specific.
'As a community, we really have a lot of great projects going on with the use of these funds,' Mahoney said, 'and so I'm excited to see how we can provide some wrap-around services and really are able to support all the people in Cheyenne.'
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