Saving Lives and Reducing Stigma: Opioid Addiction in Rural Kentucky
Lake Cumberland District Health Department
Opioid addiction is an increasingly prevalent affliction throughout the United States, while rural communities like Kentucky's Lake Cumberland District are disproportionately affected. Opioid Use Disorder has a major impact on public health, with opioid users far more vulnerable to infection like Hepatitis-C and HIV.
To aid in their fight against these challenges, Lake Cumberland District Health Department has just received a grant through the Rural Health Opioid Program (RHOP), allowing the health department to reach out to the most affected populations, reducing stigma, providing screening for HSC and HIV, and ultimately facilitating rehabilitation and recovery.
By working with the criminal justice system to reach those most in need of help, from those recently released by the prison system to those coming into the drug court for the first time, providing proven harm reduction strategies like syringe exchange, and reaching out to communities both to intervene before addiction happens or to lessen stigma when it does, Lake Cumberland District Health Department and its RHOP grant will be making a major difference in one of the biggest challenges the USA is currently facing.