Bremen hears request from Marshall County United Way requesting pledge for Project HOPE from Opioid Settlement restricted funds
Marshall County United Way has been asking local government councils to consider giving the restricted portion of the settlements from the 2022 Opioid Settlement to help Project HOPE for in order to enable the county to strengthen their application for a dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the Family of Social Services Administration. Funding from 2022 and 2023 alone will qualify for this issue. For more information on Project HOPE, see the article entitled ‘Plymouth Common Council supports Project HOPE’ on page one of the March 1 edition of the Pilot News.
When they approached the Bremen Town Council, they requested the restricted $23,456.21 the town was promised from the Opioid Settlement. After some discussion, they decided to commit the entire amount—both restricted and unrestricted—totaling $33,508.86.
Linda Yoder of United Way, Public Health Nurse Sandra Dunfee from the Marshall County Health Department (MCHD), and Director of Marshall County Community Corrections Ward Byers all spoke to the Bremen Town Council about Project HOPE and the benefits that come from the program. “It’s allowed Marshall County to be in a position that it never was before when it comes to treatment of Opioid Disorder by the use of not only treatment, but education, harm reduction, to help those individuals who need that help,” said Ward. “We’ve made leaps and bounds with recovery in Marshall County. Many people have never seen it. Many people don’t know anything about it. But it’s working. It’s working behind the scenes and doing a wonderful job.”
Project HOPE has also benefitted Bremen in particular, including dispersing opioid overdose treatments, like NARCAN, to local law
enforcement and school nurses, and resource officers. When asked, Police Chief Brad Kile explained that his department uses 10 a year, each of which can save up to three lives. Fire Chief Matt Neher said that his department, which also gets their NARCAN from the county, uses a similar number per year. they also offer vaping and smoking classes, which are offered in the schools. “You haven’t seen anything publicly for the last three years, but it’s been going on in Bremen. You have individuals living in Bremen, individuals that are arrested in Bremen, right into the criminal justice system. they go through the drug court, they go through probation or community corrections. they are part of Project HOPE and have been receiving services from Project HOPE,” said Ward. “It’s not something that you’re going to see on the street, you’re not going to see on a billboard. But I can assure you that Bremen has received these services from Project HOPE.”
Dunfee explained to the council that in many respects, their hands are tied when it comes to the lion’s share of the money they will receive from the Opioid settlement. “the big thing with the Opioid Settlement funding is that there are two pools of funding: there’s a restricted fund and a non-restricted fund. the restricted fund, our hands are pretty tied as to what services we need to offer. Project HOPE has already started most of these programs for us, we just need to continue them and then expand on them.” She then explained that the county council and commissioners gave the MCHD the authority to determine a recommendation for dispensing with the restricted funds, and that Project HOPE was the program they decided on. “that’s why we’re reaching out to community departments to help us figure out how to best serve everyone in the county.”
town Attorney tony Wagner commended the project as well, basing his comments on some research he has completed within the last month. “One thing that I learned was that opioid addiction is one of the biggest drags that we have. If you look at all the state rankings… opioids were basically causing us to have, or a big portion of the reason we have such poor rankings in maternal health and infant health,” he said. “this is a real problem for our state.”
After the matter was decided, Bremen resident Eric Hudson commended the council for supporting Project HOPE. “that money that we see is substantial. I know someone who went through the HOPE program and is doing just fine now. It is money well spent,” he said, then reminded the council of public comments at recent meetings that spoke against Blue Zones: “there have been a lot of constituents here saying they don’t want the Blue Zones. I’ve only heard one Bremen person say that they’re in favor of it… everybody else from Bremen that I’ve heard is opposed to it.” Immediately after that, the council voted on the agenda item to withdraw the $100,000 they pledged to Blue Zones, which they intend to instead put towards Bremen-based projects.