What Is It?
Conducting presentations by first responders and harm reduction staff was identified by the Substance Use Prevention Alliance (SUPA) as an action that, when combined with other actions in our community, has a reasonable chance of making a difference in unintentional medication and drug overdose in our community. This is a new program in our community.
2020 Update:
In early 2020, the NC Harm Reduction Coalition provided a presentation to SUPA members. The presentation focused on a comprehensive, solution-focused response to concerns about syringe litter (Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency, 2020). Additional education was provided by Haywood County Emergency Services (HCES) in May 2021. This session provided a valuable opportunity to communicate with HCES and discuss partnership opportunities (HHSA, 2021).
Partners
The partners for the educational presentations include:
Agency |
Person |
Role |
Haywood County Sheriff's Office | Designated HCSO staff |
Partner |
Haywood County Emergency Medical Services | Greg Shuping |
Partner |
Substance Use Prevention Alliance (Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Work Group) | Overdose Prevention Work Group Members |
Lead |
NC Harm Reduction Coalition | Gariann Yochym | Partner |
Work Plan
Activity |
Resources Needed |
Agency/Person Responsible |
Target Completion Date |
Contact Haywood County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) to schedule date |
Potential dates; meeting space |
Lindsay Regner |
October 2019 |
Host presentation by HCSO |
Meeting space; staff time |
Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Work Group Members |
January 2020 |
Evaluate presentation by HCSO |
Meeting space; staff time; evaluation forms |
SUPA members |
January 2020 |
Contact NC Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) to schedule date | Potential dates; meeting space | Gariann Yochym | October 2019 |
Hold presentation by NCHRC | Meeting space; staff time | Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Work Group Members | March 2020 |
Evaluate presentation by NCHRC | Meeting space; staff time; evaluation forms | SUPA members | March 2020 |
Collect numbers for performance measures and determine next steps | Meeting space; staff time | SUPA members | June 2020 |
Evaluation & Sustainability
Evaluation Plan:
We plan to evaluate the impact of harm reduction and first responder presentations through the use of Results-Based Accountabilityâ„¢ to monitor specific performance measures. We will be monitoring How Much, How Well and/or Better Off Performance Measures. Our evaluation activities will be tracked in the Work Plan table, above. We will track the number of individuals who receive education. The impact of this education will also be assessed following written evaluations after each presentation.
Sustainability Plan:
The following is our sustainability plan for presentations by harm reduction staff and first responders:
- Sustainability Component:
- The NC Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) is a long-time partner that provides statewide assistance.
- Harm Reduction practices, such as Naloxone administration and syringe disposal boxes, are used by first responders as an ongoing practice.
- NCHRC and Haywood County Health and Human Services both continue to pursue ongoing funding to support harm reduction practices. Existing funding includes a grant focused on post-overdose support and hepatitis testing and treatment.
- The NCHRC has a strong working relationship with the Haywood Regional Medical Center emergency department, allowing post-overdose referrals to be received.
- NCHRC has spoken on numerous occasions to the Board of County Commissioners, who has expressed support for the work being done.
Measures
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