ROCKINGHAM — Samaritan Colony will be receiving another allocation from Richmond County’s portion of the opioid settlement.
The Richmond County Board of Commissioner on Tuesday approved the allotment of $25,001 at the recommendation of the Drug Endangered Family Task Force, presented by Social Services Director Robby Hall.
Disclosure: This writer is a non-voting media representative of the task force.
The allocation is the second half of an expenditure originally designated to the local N.C. Cooperative Extension office for an early prevention program. However, the program fell through due to staffing and the funding was returned.
Click here to read about the original allocation.
Last month, commissioners approved redirecting the first half of $50,003 to Samaritan Colony.
DEFT had initially intended to split the returned money between Samaritan Colony and FirstHealth, the other original recipient.
At the March meeting, Commissioner Andy Grooms suggested giving it all to Samaritan Colony.
However, that required a separate resolution.
Click here to read about the March allocation.
“I appreciate DEFT’s cooperation with this,” Grooms said during the April 2 meeting.
Samaritan Colony currently has a 28-day addiction treatment program for men and will soon be opening a facility for women.
So far, commissioners have allocated $99,503 to Samaritan Colony.
Commissioner Toni Maples — who, along with Commissioner Robin Roberts, joined the meeting remotely — asked if entities who had applied for a grant and were not accepted were given a reason.
“They should be,” Hall replied. “In most cases, we talk to the applicant each time during that process. So if there’s someone that didn’t get any information, I can get that information.”
Hall added that the application could be denied for different reasons, including asking for more than the allotment or not fully completing the application.
Commissioner Dr. Rick Watkins suggested including a scoring rubric on the applications so “it’s more objective and it’s clearly understood by everyone whether you get the money or not” and be “helpful to the task force in making those decisions.”
Hall agreed, saying a rubric could be added, noting that there is currently a scoring section for monitoring.
Commissioner Jason Gainey asked how DEFT narrows down the applicants.
Hall said the task force — composed of members from across the community — identifies the top areas of need and uses the guidelines set forth in the settlement agreement.
Gainey also asked for a list of applicants showing those that were approved.
DEFT is holding a municipality meeting at noon April 24 at the Richmond County Airport to get input on funding potential projects and the task force will take those suggestions into consideration at its May meeting.
The funding comes from national settlement agreements with opioid manufacturers and distributors including Johnson & Johnson.
Finance Manager Cary Garner said the county was initially awarded $8.7 million over an 18-year payment cycle, adding there have since been some additions to the total.
To-date, according to Garner, the county has received around $1.6 million, with another allocation expected this week, bringing the receipt to around $1.9 million.
Garner reminded commissioners that the payment schedule “tails off considerably” as time goes by.
In addition to the expenditures for Samaritan Colony and FirstHealth, commissioners previously approved $58,000 to create a cache of naloxone for use by first responders.
Click here to read about the naloxone allocation.
DEFT records show 763 mg of naloxone were administered January-August of 2023 and 76.5 mg in October. There is no data for September, November or December.
Grooms asked that DEFT consider using the funds for peer support programs “that don’t necessarily include medication” and prevention education for children.
Hall reminded the board that while the task force makes recommendations for expenditures, commissioners have the final say-so on how the money is spent.
STATE STATS REMAIN HIGH
Richmond County continues to have one the highest fentanyl-involved death rates of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
According to the latest statistics from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, released April 2, Richmond County has the second-highest rate in the state at 77.1, with 33 deaths. Swain County, which has a population about a third of Richmond’s, has the highest rate at 78.8.
Nearby Robeson and Montgomery counties are also in the top 10, along with Craven, Rowan, Rutherford, Vance, Buncombe and Burke. The statewide rate for 2023 is 31.1, with 3,324 total deaths.
The preliminary data covers January-December of 2023.
There were 250 fentanyl-related deaths across the state in the month of December, down from 273 the previous year. Many of those also included other drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol and other drugs. Only 13% involved only fentanyl.
In the past two years, fentanyl-positive deaths peaked in May 2023 at 345.
The total number of suspected overdose deaths across the state decreased by 5%, according to another report released April 2.
