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Pilot program targeting opioid overdoses in Jacksonville pitched at $1.4 million

Jacksonville, FL — For weeks, Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford has been holding community meetings to talk about what he calls an opioid crisis in the city. Now, he's taking action.

Gulliford has filed a bill that would establish a six month pilot program which was outlined during his community meetings.

“Try to give some solution to this recycling and cycling and recycling we do, where we respond, we transport, we get them to the hospital, we stabilize them, we put them back out on the street, and the process starts all over again, because we haven’t addressed the addiction,” he says.

The program is a partnership with River Region Human Services, Inc. to provide specialized services aimed at reducing addiction and dependence on opioids. This is done by transporting patients to UF Health- who has already given a tentative agreement- where they can be medically stabilized. A “recovery peer specialist” would then work with the patient and family, talking about further treatment and community resources.

The patient will be screened for mental health or other services they need specifically, and further treatment would take place through River Region or Gateway Community Services.

Gulliford says the program specifically targets one of the problems that leads to recurrence of overdoses, which is a lack of follow up after patients are medically discharged.

“What we’re doing isn’t working,” he says.

Under the proposed legislation, the City would fund the program, at $1,467,289 for the full six months. The funding goes toward residential and outpatient services, medication, transportation, physician fees, and more.

Gulliford hopes, if they’re successful, that the program could be expanded to other emergency rooms. He says that would be a big cost, so he would look for state funding.

While there would be a large price tag to bring these services to more ERs and to do so on a continuous basis, Gulliford says it’s a worthwhile balance against the drain we’re currently seeing on emergency resources and first responders. There’s also a steep human cost.

“We could maybe start reducing the number of deaths, because ultimately that’s what happens, is they die,” Gulliford says.

The pilot program and funding request is formally being introduced to the City Council Tuesday. Gulliford is requesting emergency approval, which means a final vote could take place at the end of the month.

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