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Bedford County: opioid-settlement funds approved for treatment, prevention and scholarships
Summary
Officials said a county submission of 15 programs (about $700,000) to the opioid settlement trust has yielded approvals for 13 programs, a partial approval for one and one still under review; funds will support treatment, a certified recovery specialist and school-based prevention programs.
At a Dec. 9 meeting, county staff updated Bedford County commissioners on plans to deploy opioid-settlement funds toward treatment, prevention and recovery services.
"We recently, last Thursday, received from the trust approval on we have 15 programs that we submitted to the trust total, totaling over, 7,000 or $700,000," said Speaker 7, who provided the update. "We received approval on 13 of those programs. We received partial approval on another one, and then there is still under consideration for our fifteenth program."
Speaker 7 said the funds come from federal court settlements with pharmaceutical companies and must be used for opioid-use-disorder programs. Approved uses include funding for local agencies either directly or through the county, school-based prevention work, scholarships for people who have completed treatment and family members, and a certified recovery specialist position to work with overdose patients in emergency rooms.
"We're partnering a lot with PSI and behavioral health providers," Speaker 7 said, noting PSI will receive more than $100,000 for several programs, including school prevention and family-support initiatives.
The staff update described training and support for first responders to address burnout and improve responses to overdoses.
Officials said one program application is under further review because the trust requested more detail on how funds would be distributed. Commissioners and staff emphasized care in submitting programs to avoid losing potential funding if the trust denies an application.
The presentation was informational; no formal vote was required on the program list at the meeting. Staff said they are preparing to distribute funds to partner agencies and will return with further implementation details as they become available.
