When it comes to any large government program targeting health, social, and cultural issues, there are always concerns that the money won’t be spent well. The opioid settlements are no exception.  

So when a program involves multiple community partners, a transparent and collaborative decision-making process, and is based on the local data, the rate of success tends to be high.  

This is what makes Sumner County’s approach so remarkable. After finding out that Highpoint Health hospital alone received over 50% of all overdoses brought in by EMS, they hired a Substance Use & Recovery Navigator to join the emergency department and help connect overdose survivors with local resources and treatment. The program also includes funding to get people help at Volunteer Behavioral Health - located right across the street from the hospital - and a “Box of Hope” containing naloxone, an up-to-date local recovery resource guide, and other tools provided by the Sumner County Prevention Coalition.  And this is just a part of the county’s overall overdose response plan that they are funding with opioid settlement dollars. 

My guests this month are Justin Werlick, Substance Use & Recovery Navigator, Dr. Geoffrey Lifferth, Chief Medical Officer for Highpoint Health with Ascension Saint Thomas, Haylee Mcphearson-Bush, VP of Operations of the Middle/West regions for Volunteer Behavioral Health, Meagan Griffith, Director of the Sumner County Prevention Coalition, Charlotte Hollis of the Sumner County Health Department, and Dr. Dustin Owens, Grant Accountant for the Sumner County Budget Committee.  

In this episode we talk about how all of these vital partners were brought together, how concerns were addressed - including the fear of duplication or supplantation of existing services - and why they are working to make naloxone more available to the community than ever before. We also discuss the larger barriers that people needing recovery face, including not only the lack of connection between existing resources, but the gaps in healthcare coverage that keep people from getting the help they need. 

Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.

Learn more:
Highpoint Health Announcement: https://www.highpointhealthsystem.com/news/coalition-receives-grant-to-support-opioid-overdose-crisis-interventions
Sumner County Opioid Abatement Committee: https://sumnercountytn.gov/opioid-abatement/ 
Volunteer Behavioral Health: https://volunteerbehavioralhealth.org/ 
Sumner County Prevention Coalition: https://sumnercoalition.org/ 
SMART: www.smart.tennessee.edu

LISTEN HERE: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM

The Recovery Navigator: Connecting ER Patients to Hope in Sumner County

SMART Initiative