 Earlier this month, dozens of community members attended a Scott County Commissioner’s meeting to discuss the county’s syringe services program (SSP). The SSP was initially implemented in Scott County in 2015 in response to a surge in new positive HIV cases in the county and needs to be reapproved by the County Commissioner’s in order to continue operating. Health officials, including the Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box, expressed fears about increasing rates of hepatitis C, HIV, and increased emergency rooms visits if the program is discontinued. At the conclusion of the meeting, no official date was set for a vote on the issue.
According to preliminary federal data, over a 12-month period ending in September 2020, more than 87,000 Americans died of drug related overdoses surpassing the death total from any year since the opioid epidemic began. Deaths from overdoses were on the rise again in the months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, just after seeing their first decrease in 2018. While difficult to determine how closely linked the COVID-19 pandemic is to the rise in overdose cases, it is unquestionable that the pandemic exacerbated the trend. Per the report, the largest spike in overdoses occurred in April in May when the strictest lockdowns were taking place and fear and stress, along with job losses were on the rise.
Indiana is among seven states selected to pilot a federal imitative to increase employment for those experiencing mental health conditions. This initiative, titled Advancing State Policy Integration for Recovery and Employment (or ASPIRE for short), aims to help people with mental health conditions gain and sustain employment in which they are paid competitive wages in traditional workplace settings. At this time, Indiana will not be receiving federal funding to support this imitative but will be receiving technical assistance to carry out a statewide plan. See the announcement letter from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development here.
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