Rockport health director outlines $300,000 regional RISE opioid recovery grant and local plans

Dr. Ray Cahill of the Rockport Public Health Department updated the Rockport School Committee on a new regional opioid recovery award, saying Rockport joined Gloucester and Ipswich to secure municipal matching funds that total $300,000. “The 3 communities pooled a 150,000, and that was matched. So the total grant is 300,000,” Cahill said, noting the grant is managed by the RISE Massachusetts Foundation and funded through opioid settlement allocations administered by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Cahill described the grant’s principal uses as addressing barriers to treatment and recovery: “Our grant dollars are going to be used to pay stipends, to cover sober housing costs, to cover, help reduce co pays for medical prescriptions related to those programs. To pay for transportation, we're gonna be partnering with, Uber Health, to in terms of rides,” he said. He emphasized that community survey results on Cape Ann showed cost and transportation barriers and that stigma around opioid use disorder was repeatedly cited as a top obstacle.

During a committee Q&A, members asked whether the award would support family-facing services and whether partnerships would remain after the one-year award. Cahill said grant spending must have an opioid connection and that the initiative deliberately focuses on treatment and recovery rather than prevention, but he added that partnerships and offshoot programs could expand outside strict grant spending. He outlined next steps: finalizing memoranda of understanding with partners, conducting community outreach, municipal approvals, and final processing through the RISE Foundation before funds are distributed.