Category: Ending Deaths from Despair

This story originally appeared on www.NBC15.com.

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – This year, the Department of Health Services expects to get nearly $31 million for the task to fight Wisconsin’s opioid epidemic.

The funds are the result of a settlement, as part of the National Prescription Opiate Litigation. About $6 million arrived as a first payment in late July, the DHS announced. DHS Secretary-Designee Karen Timberlake said Monday the plan to distribute the funds has been submitted to the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance.

Divided into three phases, the plan would largely tackle immediate needs, increase access to services around the state and invest in long term projects. Among the proposed figures, $3 million would increase the statewide availability of Narcan, the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses.

Set aside is even more money for capital projects, to expand prevention, treatment and recovery services.

“The longer we delay, the more we put at risk those who would benefit most from these life-saving investments,” Timberlake said.

Attorney General Josh Kaul (D-Wisconsin) spoke alongside health officials Monday.

“These funds have an opportunity to transform the response to the opioid epidemic and, finally, to turn the corner in this fight,” he said. “It’s critical though that those funds get to our communities as soon as possible because communities and families across the state of Wisconsin continue to suffer from the impacts of substance use disorder and from opioid overdoses.”

The Department of Justice has been working to “hold opioid companies accountable for their role in this epidemic,” according to Kaul.

Wisconsin’s opioid crisis began in the late 1990s, Timberlake said, amounting to an almost 900 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths from 1999 to 2018.

According to DHS data comparing demographic groups in 2020, Black people in Wisconsin had the highest rate of all opioid deaths.

“We don’t want to see our Black men or women ,again, dying from this when they don’t have to,” Carola Gaines, co-chair of the African American Opioid Coalition, said. “If they really want to change the narrative and they really want to transform issues then hopefully some of this funding will be involved in harm reduction, recovery housing and treatment.”

In the years to come, Wisconsin is due to receive more than $400 million in total settlement funds. Thirty percent of total funds will stay at the state level, while 70 percent will go to local governments.

AAOC Ending African American Deaths from Despair – Joe Parisi, Dane County Executive, Webinar Series Opening Remarks Friday, June 5, 2020

“Words cannot express my sorrow at this heartbreaking moment in our nation’s history. Inexcusable violence against unarmed African Americans has gone unchecked for far too long. These crimes are indefensible.

We’re reminded at times like these that African American community members are in poorer health than white Americans FOR A REASON. Research on health disparities is clear: the trauma of experiencing and viewing relentless instances of violence and discrimination against people simply because of their race, along with structural racism that deprives African Americans of opportunities to achieve the same level of success as white Americans, takes a toll on African American mental and physical health.

It is in this context that I welcome you to this Ending African American Deaths from Despair webinar series. This conference has been in the planning stages for months, but it could not be more timely. Although the term “deaths from despair” was coined to refer to a recent spike in deaths among white Americans from opioid overdose, suicide and chronic alcoholism, African Americans bear a disproportionate burden of these deaths in Dane County. And we are concerned that trauma from recent events – violence plus the disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus on the Black community – will exacerbate this trend.

The goal of this webinar series is to offer concrete solutions and opportunities for involvement to prevent deaths from despair from the African American perspective. The program was planned by the African American Opioid Coalition, a group of Black leaders convened 3 years ago under the auspices of Safe Communities to reduce drug harm in the community.

I am excited to announce that this webinar series kicks off my Ending Deaths from Despair Initiative, launched with planning support from Safe Communities. In coming months we will convene a Task Force of community and clinical mental health, faith and business leaders, first responders and advocates to implement a coordinated plan to end deaths from despair:  deaths from suicide, overdose and chronic alcoholism.

In addition to work beginning during this webinar series, our action plan will include making recovery coaching and peer support available via EMS and emergency rooms for people experiencing a suicidal crisis, building partnerships with gun shops to increase safe storage options, and continuing our important work to establish Dane County’s Universal Access Center.

It is significant that this work begins thanks to leadership of Dane County’s African American community. Through this webinar series, we will learn important lessons about connection and resilience that we can apply to our work community-wide.  The African American Opioid Coalition is an innovator – and we appreciate their leadership and guidance as we move forward.

I am committed to continuing to work in partnership with the African American community to make Dane County a place of opportunity, fairness and justice for all who live here, and to work for the day when every person of color has access to the opportunity and safety they deserve, free from the trauma of racism.”