$1M Grant Will Create Unified Community Response To Addiction Recovery Efforts
August 23, 2022 at 6:04 p.m.
$1M Grant Will Create Unified Community Response To Addiction Recovery Efforts
By David L. Slone-
The announcement of the grant was made Tuesday during the Workforce Substance Misuse and Recovery Event at First Christian Church, Warsaw.
According to information provided by the Bowen Center, the Bowen Center was awarded the $1 million Opioid Response Implementation Grant from the Health Resource & Services Administration through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The goal for this community-driven grant is to create a unified community response to those seeking addiction recovery treatment and will support several addiction recovery efforts.
The consortium for the grant includes Bowen Center, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, Fellowship Missions, Live Well Kosciusko and the K21 Health Foundation.
Wayne Peterson Stephan, director of addiction recovery services for the Bowen Center, announced the grant at Tuesday’s event. He said, “I have the pleasure of announcing a huge success story for Kosciusko County and its efforts to promote recovery and wellness within this community. Through the combined efforts of the organizations and individuals you see up here, we were able, as a consortium, to get a $1 million Opioid Response Implementation Grant through the Health Resources and Services Administration. Again, this was a combined effort with Fellowship Mission, the K21 Foundation, Live Well Kosciusko, the mayor and the fire department’s own Chris Fancil, along with the Bowen Center.”
The grant, he said, will go to fund a number of community initiatives and roles that will help create and maintain a community of recovery in Kosciusko County.
“One example that I will share, and that I am excited for, is the peer recovery coaches that we will be able to hire. Two of those will be through the Bowen Center and one through Fellowship Missions. Again, we know that’s such a critical service to be able to provide and that there’s such power through that shared lived experience of recovery, and that is what drives the success of peer recovery initiatives. So we’re thrilled to see that expand and grow through this grant,” Stephan stated.
Obtaining the grant was no small effort, he said, and it took a dedicated team of community leaders and organizations to come together and identify and quantify gaps in addiction recovery services to secure the funding.
“I truly believe that recovery requires community, and this grant is a great example of what can be accomplished when a community responds as a united force and takes real action to support recovery,” Stephan said.
Ann Hasse, recovery services director at Fellowship Missions, said the past several years at Fellowship Missions they have been working to develop the addiction recovery hub. It is “a resource that we try to be to the community to connect people with services and try to identify gaps and collaborate anyway we can,” she said.
One of the things Fellowship Missions advocated for as part of the grant was for a peer recovery coach, “which we are so excited about,” Hasse said. “I think that Kosciusko County will really benefit from having not just one but three recovery coaches in our county.”
She said a number of surrounding counties utilize peer recovery coaches and they have a huge impact on those recovering as well as the community as a whole.
Chris Fancil, WWFT EMS chief, said, “Our part in this was we’ve started a community program - the CARES program is what we call it - for the Wayne Township and Warsaw area. We are going out in the county to do more things, but we’re actually on the frontline of a lot of these calls. We want to have more people trained on how to respond to those and then get the resources to those people who are suffering from addiction and families that are having to deal with this.”
He said WWFT’s component of this was “making a response and then start resourcing and pushing the people in the right direction so they can get the help they need.”
Fellowship Missions Shelter Director Brooke Lane said she was excited about the grant and what they will be able to do with it, not just for Fellowship Missions but for the community as well.
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker said, “I’m going to give this team all the credit. They deserve all of it. They did an awesome job. This should make a huge impact on our community and I just thank you so much for all of your hard work.”
Live Well Kosciusko President and CEO Lisa Harman said, “One quick thing that I think will be beneficial to employers and HR representatives is we’re going to be hiring a coordinator who will actually work directly with employers to try to implement best practices and policies in their places of business. And then work to get folks into jobs that are not just entry-level jobs, but to allow people to be able to have purpose and pursue jobs in fields that they really are interested in that we may not have been allowed them to in the past.”
Stephan concluded by saying, “This can’t be done without the whole community coming together and supporting all of the organizations, and that’s what I was most excited about, is that this is a community-driven effort and all of these organizations are contributing and we’ll see this impact with recovery in so many different ways for this community, so I’m very excited about this.”
The grant is designed to assist individuals in finding recovery, with a primary focus on those with Opioid Use Disorder, but is not exclusive to that addiction. The grant implementation will specifically target the homeless, and justice-involved persons, according to information from the Bowen Center. It will fund the following initiatives:
• Funding to offset the costs of Sublocade (injectable Suboxone), which is used for the treatment of moderate to severe Opioid Use Disorder, which can be cost-prohibitive for some individuals, especially the uninsured.
• Hire/train three peer recovery coaches.
• Hire a workforce recovery coordinator through Live Well Kosciusko who will work with area employers on employee education, development of second chance programs, creation of workplace practices that support recovery and provide those in recovery a chance for employment.
• Hire a recovery coordinator stationed at Fellowship Missions to assist with expansion services and additional beds.
• Hire a CARE coordinator through WWFT who will provide community training on Naloxone use and distribution and help connect individuals who have overdosed and had emergency response to community treatment and recovery resources.
Fancil said Bowen Center is “kind of the keeper of this” in that they’re going to keep the records and how the money is spent.
“We all had to present our piece of this, to show what we wanted to use money for, if we were allowed to get the grant,” he said. “Our part, a very small part, is that we’re going to train more people to go out and do that initial intervention and then we push them to the resources, which ... those peer support folks are so needed. Because somebody wants to hear what you had to go through to get back on your feet. So, so important.”
He said with Bowen Center and Fellowship Missions stepping into that role, it’s going to be essential to this community.
“And we deal with that with alcoholism, we deal with that with opioids, we deal with that with all sorts of things. They don’t want to hear from me, I’ve never had to fight that battle. They want to hear from somebody who is dealing with it,” Fancil said. “So I think this is going to be essential for us. We’re going to have more people trained on how to respond, and we’re going to have more people responding, so it’s going to be a great resource.”
The announcement of the grant was made Tuesday during the Workforce Substance Misuse and Recovery Event at First Christian Church, Warsaw.
According to information provided by the Bowen Center, the Bowen Center was awarded the $1 million Opioid Response Implementation Grant from the Health Resource & Services Administration through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The goal for this community-driven grant is to create a unified community response to those seeking addiction recovery treatment and will support several addiction recovery efforts.
The consortium for the grant includes Bowen Center, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, Fellowship Missions, Live Well Kosciusko and the K21 Health Foundation.
Wayne Peterson Stephan, director of addiction recovery services for the Bowen Center, announced the grant at Tuesday’s event. He said, “I have the pleasure of announcing a huge success story for Kosciusko County and its efforts to promote recovery and wellness within this community. Through the combined efforts of the organizations and individuals you see up here, we were able, as a consortium, to get a $1 million Opioid Response Implementation Grant through the Health Resources and Services Administration. Again, this was a combined effort with Fellowship Mission, the K21 Foundation, Live Well Kosciusko, the mayor and the fire department’s own Chris Fancil, along with the Bowen Center.”
The grant, he said, will go to fund a number of community initiatives and roles that will help create and maintain a community of recovery in Kosciusko County.
“One example that I will share, and that I am excited for, is the peer recovery coaches that we will be able to hire. Two of those will be through the Bowen Center and one through Fellowship Missions. Again, we know that’s such a critical service to be able to provide and that there’s such power through that shared lived experience of recovery, and that is what drives the success of peer recovery initiatives. So we’re thrilled to see that expand and grow through this grant,” Stephan stated.
Obtaining the grant was no small effort, he said, and it took a dedicated team of community leaders and organizations to come together and identify and quantify gaps in addiction recovery services to secure the funding.
“I truly believe that recovery requires community, and this grant is a great example of what can be accomplished when a community responds as a united force and takes real action to support recovery,” Stephan said.
Ann Hasse, recovery services director at Fellowship Missions, said the past several years at Fellowship Missions they have been working to develop the addiction recovery hub. It is “a resource that we try to be to the community to connect people with services and try to identify gaps and collaborate anyway we can,” she said.
One of the things Fellowship Missions advocated for as part of the grant was for a peer recovery coach, “which we are so excited about,” Hasse said. “I think that Kosciusko County will really benefit from having not just one but three recovery coaches in our county.”
She said a number of surrounding counties utilize peer recovery coaches and they have a huge impact on those recovering as well as the community as a whole.
Chris Fancil, WWFT EMS chief, said, “Our part in this was we’ve started a community program - the CARES program is what we call it - for the Wayne Township and Warsaw area. We are going out in the county to do more things, but we’re actually on the frontline of a lot of these calls. We want to have more people trained on how to respond to those and then get the resources to those people who are suffering from addiction and families that are having to deal with this.”
He said WWFT’s component of this was “making a response and then start resourcing and pushing the people in the right direction so they can get the help they need.”
Fellowship Missions Shelter Director Brooke Lane said she was excited about the grant and what they will be able to do with it, not just for Fellowship Missions but for the community as well.
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker said, “I’m going to give this team all the credit. They deserve all of it. They did an awesome job. This should make a huge impact on our community and I just thank you so much for all of your hard work.”
Live Well Kosciusko President and CEO Lisa Harman said, “One quick thing that I think will be beneficial to employers and HR representatives is we’re going to be hiring a coordinator who will actually work directly with employers to try to implement best practices and policies in their places of business. And then work to get folks into jobs that are not just entry-level jobs, but to allow people to be able to have purpose and pursue jobs in fields that they really are interested in that we may not have been allowed them to in the past.”
Stephan concluded by saying, “This can’t be done without the whole community coming together and supporting all of the organizations, and that’s what I was most excited about, is that this is a community-driven effort and all of these organizations are contributing and we’ll see this impact with recovery in so many different ways for this community, so I’m very excited about this.”
The grant is designed to assist individuals in finding recovery, with a primary focus on those with Opioid Use Disorder, but is not exclusive to that addiction. The grant implementation will specifically target the homeless, and justice-involved persons, according to information from the Bowen Center. It will fund the following initiatives:
• Funding to offset the costs of Sublocade (injectable Suboxone), which is used for the treatment of moderate to severe Opioid Use Disorder, which can be cost-prohibitive for some individuals, especially the uninsured.
• Hire/train three peer recovery coaches.
• Hire a workforce recovery coordinator through Live Well Kosciusko who will work with area employers on employee education, development of second chance programs, creation of workplace practices that support recovery and provide those in recovery a chance for employment.
• Hire a recovery coordinator stationed at Fellowship Missions to assist with expansion services and additional beds.
• Hire a CARE coordinator through WWFT who will provide community training on Naloxone use and distribution and help connect individuals who have overdosed and had emergency response to community treatment and recovery resources.
Fancil said Bowen Center is “kind of the keeper of this” in that they’re going to keep the records and how the money is spent.
“We all had to present our piece of this, to show what we wanted to use money for, if we were allowed to get the grant,” he said. “Our part, a very small part, is that we’re going to train more people to go out and do that initial intervention and then we push them to the resources, which ... those peer support folks are so needed. Because somebody wants to hear what you had to go through to get back on your feet. So, so important.”
He said with Bowen Center and Fellowship Missions stepping into that role, it’s going to be essential to this community.
“And we deal with that with alcoholism, we deal with that with opioids, we deal with that with all sorts of things. They don’t want to hear from me, I’ve never had to fight that battle. They want to hear from somebody who is dealing with it,” Fancil said. “So I think this is going to be essential for us. We’re going to have more people trained on how to respond, and we’re going to have more people responding, so it’s going to be a great resource.”
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