West Lafayette, IN - The isolation and stress of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the opioids epidemic in rural America even worse. In response, a team of university, health care, faith-based and local government entities have banded together to bring help to a part of rural, east-central Indiana hit hard by an exacerbated substance misuse problem.
The Consortium for Opioids Response Engagement-East Central Indiana (CORE-ECI) will focus on the communities of Blackford and Jay Counties, two medically underserved populations that have seen significant mortality and opioid-use rates.
To launch the effort, Purdue received a three-year, nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Service Administration’s Rural Communities Opioid Response Program. The effort is led by Purdue Healthcare Advisors, a nonprofit health care outreach initiative that is part of Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering (RCHE) at Purdue. RCHE serves as a national nucleus for driving high-impact improvement in health care delivery by mobilizing the intellectual strengths of Purdue faculty and partners.
In partnership, Indiana University Health – specifically IU Health Blackford Hospital and IU Health Jay Hospital – will serve as clinical lead for the consortium. The Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition Inc., Blackford County Community Corrections, Hester Hollis Concern Center and A Better Life-Brianna’s Hope Inc. also are partnering. The program will run through August 2024.