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Aiken Center seeks North Augusta support for opioid settlement-funded services, community health site
Summary
Aiken Center briefed council on a county-wide opioid community action plan, requested city coordination on funding and outreach and discussed a proposed co-located community health center in Belvedere.
Margaret Key, executive director of the Aiken Center, asked North Augusta officials to support countywide opioid-settlement investments, offered a copy of a newly completed community action plan and described plans for local program expansion.
Key said the action plan — which incorporated input from more than 100 community voices and a day-long retreat of 40 stakeholders — is intended to guide multi-year opioid-abatement spending. She said the Aiken Center will hire an opioid-abatement coordinator to help municipalities and the county coordinate data and investments over the settlement period.
Key described several current and proposed programs the plan supports, including Saturday-morning educational intervention sessions in partnership with the Aiken County School District for middle- and high-school students who have infractions; peer-support services at the Aiken County detention center; and expanded recovery coaching and counseling. She noted that additional national opioid settlement proceeds (related to Purdue/Sackler settlements) are expected to flow through the state Attorney General’s office to local governments and urged the city to consider sustainability funding if the county’s school pilot is expanded.
Key outlined a proposed co-located community behavioral-health and substance-use services site in Belvedere, using a vacated United Methodist property; she said the state Department of Mental Health would ultimately own the property and that the site would be family-oriented, focusing on counseling and other outpatient services. Key said neighbors had expressed traffic and safety concerns at a prior neighborhood meeting and that Aiken Center planned another listening session in Belvedere to answer questions and allay concerns.
Key said the Aiken Center and state partners have received praise from Columbia for the process used to develop the action plan and expressed hope the plan would be used to apply for and direct settlement funding.
Councilmembers thanked Key and discussed outreach to neighborhood groups and coordination with county representatives. No formal action or city funding commitment was made at the study session; Key asked the city to consider participating in sustaining the school-based pilot if county funding and program evaluations warrant expansion.
