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Health educator recounts 13 years in recovery and urges funding for low-barrier services
Summary
Ryan Rasmussen, a Ramsey County health educator in long-term recovery, told commissioners his lived experience underlines the need to fund prevention, warm handoffs, peer support and low-barrier access to treatment using settlement dollars.
Ryan Rasmussen, a Ramsey County health educator and lifelong county resident, told the board his 13 years of continuous recovery to argue that settlement funds should focus on accessible, low-barrier services.
"When we talk about these settlement dollars...what we are really funding is an infrastructure of hope," Rasmussen said, urging investments that create warm handoffs, peer support and immediate access to services when a person has a brief window to accept help. He described being turned away for a detox bed earlier in his recovery and said county services made the difference when they were available at the crucial moment.
Rasmussenstressed prevention and family support as upstream investments: "By investing a portion of these settlement funds into primary prevention, we aren't just saving an adult from an overdose later in their life." Commissioners responded with questions about coordinating post-release care and suggested pilots that wrap care teams around people leaving correctional settings.
