Get AI Briefings, Transcripts & Alerts on Local & National Government Meetings — Forever.
Gage County board hears presentation on $3 million HRSA grant for peer-support partnership with law enforcement
Summary
CHI Health Saint Mary’s representatives described a $3 million HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response grant covering Southeast Nebraska and outlined a peer-support program that pairs certified peer specialists with law enforcement to connect people to treatment and wraparound services in rural communities, including Gage County.
Tracy Reuter, a CHI Health Saint Mary’s representative, told the Gage County Board of Supervisors that CHI received a federal HRSA "Rural Communities Opioid Response" grant covering southeast Nebraska and running from September 2024 through August 2028. "It's a $3,000,000 grant," Reuter said, describing the program’s aim to get people into treatment and keep them engaged with recovery supports.
Reuter said the grant focuses on treatment and long-term recovery and includes workforce development and a local health-care navigator for referrals. She told the board the grant’s service area includes Gage County and nearby counties and that funds must stay within rural communities. "Our target service areas include Gage County," she said.
Tanner Cole, introduced as a peer support specialist with Well-Being Initiative, described how the program pairs peer specialists with law enforcement to reach people after overdoses and other crises. "Law enforcement makes contact with them... the cops that met with them, they can make a referral," Cole said, describing outreach visits with an off-duty officer and the peer specialist going to the person’s location to offer help and immediate transport to treatment when requested.
Cole and Reuter said the program aims to provide wraparound services — from housing connections to outpatient and inpatient treatment partners — and stressed that peer support relies on lived experience to engage people who may not accept traditional services. Reuter said the grant measures success by retention in recovery over months, and that the team would seek sustainability through opioid settlement dollars and other funding sources.
Sheriff's Office leaders in the room signaled support for the partnership. The sheriff said he considered the approach "a very good program" and is sending correctional staff to a beta program to evaluate it further.
The board accepted the presentation and placed the information in the public record; no county funding commitment was requested at the meeting. The presenters asked interested board members to coordinate follow-up with the sheriff’s office and county staff to discuss a formal partnership agreement.