Meetings: 3rd Friday of the month at 11am central time. Zoom Meeting. Please contact Kaitlyn Krolikowski to be added to the meeting list.
Mission: To prevent substance use disorder, expand treatment and recovery services including workforce integration, and to reduce harm and stigma in the Purchase Area.
Vision: Our vision is to aid in preventing future substance mis use and create a recovery friendly atmosphere in the Purchase Area.
Contact:
Kaitlyn Krolikowski at kkrolikowski@purchasehealth.org
2022 Data Brief
2021 Data Brief
Virtual Peer Recovery Mutual Aid Society meetings
Turning Point Recovery: https://linktr.ee/frbhrcc
Currently offers telephone support, one-on-one peer support sessions and recovery support groups online to help combat the isolation due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
Background
2019-2020 Rural Community Opioid Response Planning Grant
This grant is $200,000 for one year. Our goals are in line with the stated purpose of the RCOPR-Planning program and include: 1) Strengthen the capacity of the community and the Purchase Area Health Connections Network to broadly address the opioid epidemic by identifying existing and needed evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery programming outlined in a Community Action Plan; and 2) Develop a regional plan that addresses service and workforce gaps in substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery.
Community and Population Served: The communities served include Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, and McCracken Counties. Covering more than 2,124 square miles, the counties have high rates of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Each of these counties depend on the largest county, McCracken, for regional healthcare services as well being the location of lead applicant. Five of the eight counties have no inpatient substance abuse treatment services available, and four have no out-patient or medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services available. Parts or all of the eight counties in our Network are HPSA (primary care and mental health) and MUA communities.
Community Needs: The Purchase District has a high rate of drug arrests and drug overdose deaths that are substantially higher than the National average; as much as 2.5 times higher in some of our counties. Data from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy indicates the Purchase District Region has a higher than average rate of patients with opioid prescriptions with most counties having 261 to 310 prescriptions per 1,000 population.
Expected Impact: With the support of the planning grant, the Network will establish a new strategic plan, expand the network by 12 new organizations, create a Community Action Plan, and develop a toolkit with focused messaging, that will allow the network to develop best practices for addressing the opioid epidemic in our region. We will also focus on workforce development by convening institutions of higher education and the workforce development boards, challenging them to identify the training and development needs of both existing and new personnel that enables individuals in the field to implement evidence-based and best practices, while also developing “home-grown” talent.
Current Members
- All Area ASAP’s
- Ballard County Schools
- Baptist Health-Paducah
- Calloway County Health Department
- Carlisle County Schools
- Department of Corrections
- EKCEP
- Four Rivers Behavioral Health
- Fulton Independent School Systems
- Graves County Health Department
- Hickman County Schools
- Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
- Kentucky Courts
- Kentucky Legal Aide
- KentuckyCare
- Lotus
- Marshall County Health Department
- McCracken County Drug Court
- McCracken County Sheriff
- McCracken Fire Department
- McCracken-Paducah United Way
- Mercy Hospital
- Merryman House
- Murray Calloway County Hospital
- Murray State University
- Paducah Fire
- Paducah Independent School System
- Paducah Life Line
- Paducah Police
- Purchase Area Development District
- Purchase Area Health Education Center
- Reentry Council
- Regional Prevention Center
- Sullivan University
- University of Kentucky Extension Office
- West Kentucky Community and Technical College
- West Kentucky Workforce Board
Community Assessment 2019
Download our Community-Assessment
Strategic Plan
Download our Strategic Plan
Workforce Assessment
Download our workforce assessment
Sustainability Plan
Download our Sustainability Plan
The Opioid Taskforce is supported with funds from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)-Implementation grant that was awarded to the Purchase Area Health Connections. The award has an amount of $1,000,000 which will be utilized over 3 years. The Opioid Taskforce and PAHC were previously supported with funds from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)-planning grant of $200,000 for 1 year.