Lawrence organizations to use $254,000 in opioid settlement funds for projects addressing drug abuse, homelessness services

photo by: Lawrence Transit

The naloxone vending machine at Lawrence Transit's Central Station, 2315 Bob Billings Parkway. Funding from the Attorney General's Office will help add an additional machine in Lawrence to expand access to the drug.

Four projects that offer resources to address addiction and opioid abuse in Lawrence, provide homelessness services and support local first responders will be implemented thanks to $254,000 in opioid settlement funds.

Earlier in the year, members of the Homeless Solutions Division, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and the Lawrence Police Department met to decide which projects would receive the funding coming from the state via opioid settlement funds.

Those funds will cover the addition of a second Narcan vending machine, expanding the Lived Experience Recovery Coach Program, providing more funds to the Homeless Resource Center and bringing in a mental health provider at least once a week to help first responders who may be facing struggles with their mental health.

Over two years, $12,000 will be allocated for the Narcan vending machine, $72,000 for the recovery coach program, $140,000 to the Homeless Resource Center and $30,000 for additional mental health support for first responders.

LDCFM Fire Chief Rich Llewellyn said the vending machine is able to dispense free naloxone nasal spray, a drug commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan that can reverse opioid overdoses.

Llewellyn noted that there was already one machine in the city, which was installed in February at Lawrence Transit’s Central Station, 2315 Bob Billings Parkway, as the Journal-World reported. Llewellyn said adding another source for Narcan helps remove barriers for people to be able to use the life-saving drug. Although the preference would be that people would not be overdosing, Llewellyn said the reality is people are overdosing, and it’s important to reduce the harm done.

“We want them to stay alive,” Llewellyn said.

According to a city memo, the machine would be placed somewhere in the downtown area at a “to-be-identified non-governmental site” because people might be hesitant to access medications like Narcan at a government building.

Additionally, the funds will help the Homeless Resource Center support programs aimed at preventing opioid use and support peer recovery efforts.

Brett Hartford, the executive director of the HRC, said that the center is often a hub for individuals in Lawrence experiencing poverty or homelessness. He said the center’s goal is to make resources more accessible, describing it as an “extension of a front door” that better connects people to community resources like the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center or the Lawrence Community Shelter.

Hartford said the additional funds would allow the center to expand the distribution of medication-based addiction treatment by bringing DCCCA representatives into the center more regularly. Then, people coming to the HRC seeking resources for addiction treatment can immediately access those resources instead of having to navigate the system on their own.

“It increases our ability to make those connections … by making the people they are trying to get to accessible to them,” Hartford said.

Hartford also said the center can expand classes and hold trainings about how to properly administer Narcan and provide more information about the dangers of opioids, especially fentanyl.

Two other mental health-related programs will be expanded through the opioid settlement funds. The funds will partially cover a position of a recovery coach from the Heartland Regional Alcohol & Drug Assessment Center who will respond alongside LPD officers to certain calls. The recovery coach can facilitate direct referrals to essential resources, education, and recovery options.

Additionally, the funds will make a mental health expert readily available to first responders during critical incident stress debriefings. Llewellyn said that the work first responders do can have a toll on both physical and mental health, saying that over their careers responding to accidents and crimes, many see some “horrible stuff.” Now, the departments will have a mental health expert on standby to help individuals process some of the things they have seen and have access when they need it.