Health Department secures $112K grant

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department has been chosen for a nearly $112,000 grant.

The National Association of County and City Health Officials is providing the Reducing Overdose through Community Approaches Mentorship grant that totals $111,650, according to a news release. Springfield City Council voted May 8 to accept the grant on behalf of the Health Department.

Officials say the grant will fund prevention strategies and activities to tackle Greene County’s high rate of substance use and overdose deaths.

Health Department staff plan to study and better understand how the opioid epidemic impacts the Springfield community and what steps can be taken to curtail it. An overdose fatality review board is slated to be created locally through the funds.

The review board, modeled after similar initiatives in other communities, is designed to work with public health, health care, public safety and other community agencies to gather and review data on the underlying causes of drug use, according to the release.

Officials pointed to the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment that found more than 4% of residents in Greene, Christian and Webster counties have a substance use disorder. That's higher than the rates for Missouri and the United States at 3.3% and 3.5%, respectively. Additionally, the Springfield area has a mortality rate involving opioids of 27 deaths per 100,000 residents.