 The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (ORCA) is partnering with the Family and Social Services Administration to launch the Recovery Housing Pilot Program. The program will allocate funding to provide transitional housing for people in recovery from substance use disorder. The state has received more than $1.7 million to administer the program, which will be used for building or rehabilitating facilities to provide temporary, supportive housing. OCRA says the individuals treated at the facilities established through the program must be low-moderate income, based on standards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Applications for the RHP will be accepted through Oct. 29. Visit the ORCA website for more information on the program and eligibility requirements.
 Data across the state of Indiana, gathered during a large-scale study by the Regenstrief Institute, indicated that Black communities and rural residents were impacted more greatly than other populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers used data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care, which contains information from 38 health systems and more than 100 Indiana hospitals. COVID-19 testing data from 1.8 million Indiana residents (from March 2020 to December 2020) was linked to hospitalizations and death records. This data showed that in the first wave of the pandemic infections were highest in urban areas, specifically among Black residents. In the summer of 2020, there was a shift in which rural population saw higher infection rates than urban areas. Overall, in 2020 Black populations in rural areas suffered more than white and urban populations. While researchers acknowledge that this data collection was during a time when the vaccine was not readily available, they note that these populations remain to be some of the most hesitant to get the vaccine. Researchers noted that since these populations have already been impacted disproportionately by the virus, public health officials would benefit from focusing specific attention on interventions to assist these populations.
Raenae Moore earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky and spent more than 20 years working in government and social services in Maine before returning to Kentucky. Moore believes that a treatment program should be measured by its sustainability which is one reason she joined forces with Corrisoft to create the Community Treatment and Tracking Solutions (CTTS) application. Moore partnered closely with the Department of Corrections to implement the CTTS app. The app includes GPS, video capabilities for 24/7 peer-to-peer support, substance use recovery resources, telemedicine, a child support compliance feature, a resume builder and an outcome measurement tool to track effectiveness of the program. Additionally, Moore has a partner in place at the RRJ Center for Change, a comprehensive counseling agency that offers mental health and substance use counseling, as well as targeted case management for adults and at-risk youth. In response to challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore expanded her partnership with the Kentucky Highlands Innovation Center to apply for and utilize grant funds to purchase cell phones and tablets to expand accessibility to the CTTS app.
Looking for drug overdose data? State and county level data relating to drug overdose deaths, nonfatal overdoses, opioid prescribing and much more can be found on the Drug Overdose Dashboard. Additional overdose data can be found on StatsExplorer. Please reach out to the DOP team to ask data questions.
|
