Countywide Health Group Eyes $100K To Fight Opiate Abuse
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The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's Executive Committee gave their approval of the project on Thursday. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Public Health Alliance wants to find a solution to the growing opioid problem.
The alliance, in partnership with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, has applied for $100,000 state grant that will bring the organizations fighting the epidemic in the county together to assess and address the problem.
According to Thomas Matuszko, assistant director for BRPC, the money will be spread out over three years and help create "a consistent approach" and identify needs.
The district attorney, Berkshire County Drug Task Force, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition and the Pittsfield Youth Development Project are among those who have already signed onto the grant. The BRPC Executive Committee approved the application on Wednesday.
"We want to see what's needed. It is really working with the partners that have been working on it already," Matuszko said on Thursday.
The combined group would take an in-depth look at opioid abuse problems to see how widespread they are and pinpoint the hardest hit areas. It would then assess the resources the county has to address it and develop put a countywide plan.
"This is a planning grant. We are trying to find out where are the problems and what is the capacity for resources," Matuszko said.
Opioid abuse has been a growing issue in the county. Last June, police, legislators, the district attorney and the sheriff all called for "something to be done" when they met with the state Secretary of Public Safety and Security Mary Elizabeth Heffernan.
Illegal usage of prescription drugs have run rampant in recent years leading to a significant increase in deaths, thefts and usage of heroin, they told Heffernan.
The county's number of addicts led to the opening of a methadone clinic in Pittsfield, after Spectrum Health saw a need. In 2010, more than 1,000 people from Berkshire County were reported to the state Department of Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse for abusing opioids. A total of 695 people were admitted to the emergency room in 2010 for non-fatal opiate causes.
The planning grant will take an even closer look at opioid usage — going beyond just the numbers reported to the state.
Tags: Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, opiates, opioids, task force,
