Latest news with #MercerCountyHealthDepartment
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Commission creates task force to oversee opioid settlement funds
princeton – Creating an application process and a task force to make sure that opioid settlement money is spent effectively to combat local drug addiction and the problems it fuels is the aim of a resolution passed Tuesday by the Mercer County Commission. Mercer County currently has almost $2.6 million from the settlements the manufacturers of opioid pain medications paid out after their products led to widespread drug abuse and overdose deaths across West Virginia. This sum does not include $300,000 being used to turn the former professional building next door to the Mercer County Courthouse into a new headquarters for the sheriff's department and $130,000 to the Mercer County Health Department to help recruit more physicians. The current plan is to leave $1.5 million in the county's opioid settlement fund so it can earn interest and keep providing money for projects addressing addiction, said Commissioner Greg Puckett. 'The state of West Virginia has endured significant harm due to the avarice and wrongdoing of the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in one of the highest overdose death rates in the country,' Puckett said as he read the resolution Investment of Opioid Settlement Funds into the official record. 'Placing too much of the burden on law enforcement and the criminal legal system to solve the opioid epidemic has not had a demonstrable impact on the problem.' The opportunity to invest over $1 billion from opioid settlements presents a unique opportunity to chart a new course for West Virginia, focusing on evidence-based strategies that prioritize saving lives, healing communities and addressing racial disparities, Puckett read from the resolution. Under the resolution, the plan is to create a five-member committee called the Mercer County, WV Opioid Settlement Task Force to review, oversee and recommend the allocation and dispensing of opioid settlement funds. The task force will include people such as health care professionals, addiction specialists, and community leaders, law enforcement, social service agencies and individuals with direct lived experience or experience and understanding of the opioid crisis, according to the resolution. The task force's decisions will be evidence-based research for reducing overdose fatalities, infectious disease and other outcomes of the opioid crisis. Eighty percent of the funds should be spent on non-punitive measures, according to the resolution. This new task force will also 'engage in a transparent and inclusive process to solicit proposals from community organizations, nonprofits and other entities to receive money for programs and projects aimed at preventing opioid abuse, provide treatment and recovery support, support efforts to reduce harm and address the social issues determining addiction, according to the resolution. The task force will report regularly to the county commission. Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mercer Board of Health recognizes nurse for years of service
By Jeff Harvey for the bluefield daily telegraph green valley — A Mercer County Health Department nurse with 32 years service received an honor from the West Virginia Council of Local Health Wednesday. Ethel Yopp R.N., who started with the Mercer County Health Department in 1993, was nominated for the award by Health Department Administrator Lynn Legg. In her nomination letter, Legg cited Yopp's long service, her patient relations, her service in the clinic's lab and her willingness to learn new things, among other accolades. 'Miss Ethel,' as she is often called by her patients, has spent over three decades serving the people of Mercer County. She has been a 'go-to' person for them when they have questions about health care,' Legg said. The Mercer County Board of Health asked Yopp to come to their meeting to be honored and had to wait until she finished drawing blood from a patient . In other developments at Wednesday's board of health meeting: - Legg reported that SB-460, the bill which calls for vaccination exemptions for religious and other reasons, had passed the State Senate and was in committee in the House of Delegates. - Legg said that the period for student athlete physicals and vaccinations would be May 13-30. There will be eight stops, covering all county high schools and middle schools and two elementary schools. Packets for parents are already available at each school. - ''Bonnie's Bus' will be coming to Mercer County on June 26 to administer mammograms and 'Lucas's Bus' will be in the county on April 15 to do testing for lung cancer. - As for flu cases , Legg said that 170 incidents of flu-like symptoms had been reported to the clinic, with approximately half being flu. West Virginia was in the upper half of flu cases in February. Contact Jeff Harvey at delimartman@
