Some of Kosciusko County's Health First Indiana funds will go toward more Narcan boxes throughout the county and baby items.
At its meeting on Wednesday, the Health First Kosciusko Advisory Committee discussed the two requests to be funded out of state monies given to the county.
The first came in from Living In Transition Effectively (LITE), which works to help those dealing with addiction. The request was for $4,420 to put boxes containing the drug, which helps with overdoses, at 14 sites in townships across the county.
Health First Kosciusko Coordinator Kurt Carlson said LITE's goal is to ensure every township has at least one public Narcan box. Several townships already have one.
The second request, totaling $4,023, was for car seats, cribs and sleep sacks for newborns whose mothers are participating in the Kosciusko County Health Department's Early Start Prenatal Program.
Carlson noted those items were an incentive to get women into the program.
As the HFK Advisory Committee agreed at the meeting to allow Carlson to approve individual requests totaling up to $10,000 at his discretion, those two items will be funded.
The committee agreed to give Carlson the discretion for small usages of funds as its recommendations for requests must be later approved by the Kosciusko County Board of Health. The latter entity only meets quarterly and thus slows the potential funding of requests.
At the meeting, the board also:
• Recommended that the board of health approve another request from LITE for $35,125 for harm reduction kit materials.
• Heard that several people are being considered to join the committee. Those individuals would fill the vacancy of former member Terry Owens, who opted to step down, as well as the Kosciusko County Council's spot on the committee. Sue Ann Mitchell had been serving as the latter, but now represents the Kosciusko County Commissioners' position on the committee.
• Heard that Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. Eric Waldo is working with local tattoo professionals to gather information for a possible ordinance regulating tattoo and piercing establishments in the county.
• Allowed Carlson to use his discretion to fund two other requests. One is for $1,800 for an automatic external defibrillator for The Salvation Army and $3,673 for items including blood pressure monitors and computers for the St. Anthony clinic, which provides free medical care in the county.
• Heard that Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver will make a request before the county's wage committee for a part-time position to help Health First Administrative Assistant Liz McCullough with paperwork.
• Heard that the committee has $152,878.82 in unspent funds left from 2024, which it may distribute after its 2025 funds are used up.
The committee's next meeting is 6 p.m. March 26 in the Kosciusko County Courthouse's Old Courtroom.