Additional life-saving Naloxone will soon be available in Douglas County. At their November 5 meeting, commissioners approved a grant request to use federal settlement dollars to purchase the nasal Narcan form of the medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.
Douglas County will receive $700,000 from a national settlement. The request approved up to $12,000 annually for the county, in partnership with Horizon Public Health, to make nasal Narcan available to stakeholders in the community.
Community Human Services Director Tabitha Kremmin and County Coordinator Heather Schlangen shared, in the grant application, that Douglas County is investing in prevention, treatment and recovery efforts to reduce opioid misuse and its harmful effects on the community. It’s working with healthcare providers, law enforcement, and public health partners to ensure a coordinated response, focusing on both immediate needs and long-term solutions to the opioid epidemic.
The county has established an Opioid Settlement Advisory Council and Task Force which guides the allocation of settlement funds and ensures the dollars are used effectively to combat opioid substance use.
Douglas County, working in coordination with Horizon Public Health, will create and distribute an application form to local partners. This form will be available on both the Douglas County and Horizon Public Health websites. Applicants will describe their populations served and justification for the need for nasal Narcan. Kremmin told commissioners by removing the financial barriers, additional community partners can distribute this life saving medicine without concern for cost, ensuring that it is readily available where it is needed most.
Commissioners unanimously approved the request.
Work to improve the quality of water flowing into Lake Ida will receive an extra $90,000 in funds from the Douglas County Water Quality Legacy Fund. The project is officially named the County Ditch 23 Sediment Pond Retrofit. Commissioners were reminded of the history of the effort to reduce harmful phosphorous into the lake, which initially was to reroute the ditch around a phosphorus-rich wetland. The Department of Natural Resources denied that plan stating it could make phosphorus loads directly to the lake more of a problem.
Jay Sieling, the current president of the Douglas County Lakes Association and member of the advisory committee of the Douglas County Water Quality Legacy Fund explained, the $90,000 will help pay for work on a sediment pond upstream. The intent of the project is to remove more phosphorous from entering the wetland in the first place.
After a robust discussion, commissioners unanimously approved the funds. To learn more about the Douglas Water Quality Legacy Fund go to https://wcif.org/fund/dcw/
The next Douglas County board meeting will be Tuesday, November 19 at 9 a.m. in the Administration Building 821 Cedar Street, Alexandria.