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Vernon County committee approves McIntosh Memorial Library grant to expand opioid resources
Summary
The Opioid Prevention and Steering Committee unanimously approved a grant for McIntosh Memorial Library to fund Narcan training, countywide overdose‑kit kiosks at eight libraries, a speaker series and community education; the health department will pursue the state Narcan Direct Program to supply doses.
The Vernon County Opioid Prevention and Steering Committee unanimously approved a grant application from McIntosh Memorial Library on Oct. 9 to expand local opioid prevention and resource efforts.
At the meeting, Grants Manager Amy Oliver reviewed the grant process for the committee. Trina Erickson, director of McIntosh Memorial Library, told the committee that libraries nationally are discussing opioid response and that local library staff aim to make library branches safe points of access for resources. Library staff member Maggie Strittmater described four program pillars — awareness, education, prevention and serving as a safe space — and said the library plans a speaker series (potential presenters identified included Wisconsin Voices of Recovery and Ryan Dowd), staff training in Narcan administration and mental‑health first aid, distribution of age‑appropriate books on prevention and treatment, and creation of overdose kits containing Narcan that could be made available for pickup at kiosks in all eight county libraries.
Health Officer Amy Kleiber told the committee that the Vernon County Health Department will apply for the State of Wisconsin Narcan Direct Program and could supply Narcan to the library once that approval is secured. Olson brought the vote to the floor; Kristina Reser‑Jaynes moved to approve the application and Steve Micheals seconded. The committee voted unanimously to approve the grant.
The approved plan is intended to broaden community reach by using the county library network for training, resource distribution and public education. Committee members did not specify a grant amount in the minutes. Next procedural steps are expected to include coordination between the library and the health department on Narcan supply and logistics.
The committee set its next meeting for Jan. 15 (the year is listed as 2024 in the minutes) and will consider additional grant applications at that time.
