Palm Beach County Business, Government and Nonprofit Leaders Launch Groundbreaking Initiative to Combat Opiod Crisis

Over the past three years, Palm Beach County, Florida has become an epicenter for the deadly opioid crisis.

·      The number of opioid-related overdose deaths hit epidemic proportions in 2016 with 571 lives lost; a 110% increase from the previous year.

·      The upward trend continues; according to a February 2018 report, the county recorded nearly 600 fatal overdoses in 2017.

To combat the growing crisis, 60 representatives from more than 25 Palm Beach County non-profits, health organizations, law enforcement agencies, businesses, and government agencies have joined forces to launch the ‘100-Day Challenge,’ a groundbreaking initiative that defines clear and attainable goals designed to have an immediate impact on the crisis.

 
Palm Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit community-based health foundation that spearheaded the initiative, shared the overarching goal for the challenge: This new system will connect people with opioid use disorder to appropriate services, including medication assisted treatment, at 15 participating treatment centers and 25 FARR-Certified Recovery Residences with proper support and/or recovery navigators. We will use this system to serve 125 persons from this population in the next 100 days, indicating an improvement in linkage to services and increased engagement.

100-Day Challenge initiatives include:

​* Scholarship beds and treatment will be made available to indigent people.​
 

* The use of certified recovery residences will be promoted, in place of unregulated sober homes.
 

* Peer specialists will be located at four hospitals to work with people brought to the ER after an overdose.
 

​* ​Recovery navigators will be paired with people exiting treatment centers to prevent relapse and support their continued recovery at certified residences.

CLICK HERE for a detailed press release that includes the partners and more information about the '100 Day Challenge' initiative.