First opioid abatement grants in Virginia awarded to Albemarle County

Albemarle County was awarded two Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) grants.

The county is the fiscal agent for the Regional Cooperative Partnership, which includes Albemarle, Nelson, Louisa, Greene and Fluvanna counties and the city of Charlottesville.

The award is the first major allocation of grand funding since Virginia received its first set of national settlement payments from manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid last year.

“We are excited to be working with our colleagues on this regional approach,” Kaki Dimock, Albemarle County Chief Human Services Officer, said. “Responding to the behavioral health needs of our community will require coordinated efforts of local government in partnership with our critical nonprofit partners.”

Both grants are provided in collaboration with Region Ten and will provide expanded access to resources for individuals with substance use and mental health concerns. The expanded services will provide a significant impact on the behavioral health concerns of community members, especially who have been adversely affected by the opioid pandemic.

“We are thrilled to hear about this award from the OAA and are excited about the ways the funds will be used to expand Region Ten programs in order to meet the needs of the people we serve,” Region Ten Community Services Board Executive Director Lisa Beitz said. “It was a privilege to partner with Albemarle County in the grant application process and we were honored to receive the support of all of our localities as well. We look forward to working with all of our localities in the coming months as we put together our operational agreement and begin planning for the future.”

The board of directors for the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority voted June 23, 2023 to award more than $23 million in grants to 76 Virginia cities and counties.

The city of Waynesboro, the fiscal agent for a partnership between the cities of Waynesboro and Staunton and Augusta County, was awarded $100,000 to engage a plan including data collection, assessment and community visioning for opioid abatement strategies.

The first grant awarded to Albemarle will expand Region Ten’s Crisis Intervention Team Assessment Center, in operation for more than a year. The center provides crisis support and assessment for individuals experiencing a psychiatric emergency. The OAA grant will make it possible for the addition of a Crisis Receiving Center to provide a 23-hour program for individuals who are actively under the influence of substances and need an evaluation and support but to not require admission. The hope is to decrease the number of hospitalizations for psychiatric emergencies and improve access to resources.

The second grant will fund expansion of Region Ten’s Blue Ridge Center community outreach program, which provides outreach and support to community members in a therapeutically appropriate setting to engage and link them to longer-term services that prevent and treat Opioid Use Disorders and other related substance use concerns. Outreach staff funding will be provided by the OAA grant so that staff are available to respond to local behavioral health incidents and provide support for at-risk individuals in the community regardless of whether they are enrolled in Region Ten services. The program will include harm reduction prevention efforts such as Rapid REVIVE training and Narcan and Fentanyl test strip distribution. The goal is to prevent overdose deaths and other opioid-related harms by providing increased connections to services and support.