Mercer team nets $1M to fight opioid abuse in Polk, Gordon
The three-year program will build on the North Georgia OPEN initiative
Two Mercer University professors received a $1 million federal grant to combat opioid overdoses in Polk, Gordon, Gilmer and Fannin counties.
The grant — from the Health Resources and Services Administration — builds on prior work that established the North Georgia Opioid Prevention and Education Network, a multisector consortium covering those four counties.
Dr. Bryant Smalley and Dr. Jacob Warren will lead the three-year comprehensive prevention, treatment and recovery initiative. Smalley is associate dean for research in Mercer’s School of Medicine and Warren is director of the school’s Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities.
“North Georgia OPEN is a community-driven initiative in one of the regions of Georgia most impacted by the opioid epidemic,” Smalley said in a release from Mercer News. “We are honored to work with all of these partners, from the local pharmacy to the judicial system, to collaboratively tackle this issue.”
The nine-member consortium is coordinated by the Center. It also includes Highland Rivers Health, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Gordon County Emergency Management, Gilmer County Probate Court, Appalachian Circuit Drug Court, Huff’s Drug Store and Blue Ridge Pharmacy, Northwest Georgia WorkSource Georgia, and Mountain Education Charter High School.
Over three years, the grant will implement and measure the impact of a multiphase prevention, treatment and recovery initiative.
Planned activities range from increasing access to overdose-reversing medication to expanding the substance use disorder workforce in the area. A number of awareness campaigns, provider trainings and community events also will be implemented to increase local knowledge about preventing overdose.
“Overdose is a complex issue requiring collaboration and partnership across many types of agencies, and North Georgia OPEN will help to make a real difference in our counties,” Warren said.
Smalley and Warren have worked extensively with communities to address rural health issues such as maternal and infant mortality disparities, opioid overdoses and chronic diseases.
Through the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities, the two professors have active initiatives in 12 rural Georgia counties.