Eau Claire County board accepts three-year plan for opioid settlement funds, keeps task force intact

Eau Claire County supervisors on Tuesday accepted a three-year framework for spending roughly $5.1 million in opioid settlement funds, approving a plan that prioritizes harm reduction, youth prevention in schools, community outreach, law-enforcement training, expanded jail programs and recovery supports.

The plan, developed by the county's opioid task force after a countywide needs assessment, was presented by Sarah Dilvin Pospicell, who facilitated the assessment, and by staff from the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the public health department. The county has already received $1,500,000 for 2022'2024 and staff estimated another $3,400,000 will arrive between 2025 and 2038, for a projected total of $5,100,000 to be held in a segregated account and spent only on the approved strategies under state guidance.

The task force said the plan focuses on the full continuum of care, from prevention and harm reduction through treatment and recovery. It recommends countywide distribution of naloxone (Narcan), continued sharps-disposal boxes, school-based prevention programs and peer-support services, a community outreach and stabilization program to respond to nonfatal overdoses, two…