{"id":1313906,"date":"2019-08-23T10:43:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T16:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=986505"},"modified":"2019-08-23T10:43:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T16:43:07","slug":"new-group-seeks-help-battling-the-opioid-epidemic-in-roaring-fork-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/new-group-seeks-help-battling-the-opioid-epidemic-in-roaring-fork-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"New group seeks help battling the opioid epidemic in Roaring Fork Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A group battling the spread of opioid addiction in the Roaring Fork Valley has put out an open invitation to people on the front lines to join them and offer their expertise.<\/p>\n

Members of the Community Opioid Treatment Strategy Project want \u201cfree rangers\u201d to attend their next meeting Wednesday and broaden the perspective of the group. Project director Jarid Rollins said free rangers are anyone not affiliated with an official treatment program. He said the group could use the help of people addicted to opioids or those in treatment. The identity of such participants would be confidential, he said.<\/p>\n

Midvalley Family Practice in Basalt received a $200,000 grant this spring from the Health Resources and Services Administration to plan opioid prevention, treatment and recovery. It created the community project. The focus is from Aspen to Glenwood Springs, Rollins said.<\/p>\n

The group has attracted prevention and recovery specialists, medical officials, law enforcement and judicial representatives and mental health experts. Rollins wants to reach beyond the official channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat sets us apart is we want to bring voices in that aren\u2019t part of a (treatment) organization,\u201d said Rollins, a social worker in the valley.<\/p>\n

People who have been affected by the opioid crisis may be in a position to offer insights that will help the project achieve its mission of prevention, treatment and recovery more effectively, he said.<\/p>\n

The meeting is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Carbondale Library. Rollins can be reached at 970-927-4666 for more information about the meeting and the project\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

In the big picture, Rollins aims to educate people about opioid addiction and remove any stigma that exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see great community awareness of the opioid crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

People who are taking painkillers for anything from a sports injury to a work mishap can end up addicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be a greater call to action that opioid addiction can happen to anybody,\u201d Rollins said.<\/p>\n

The federal money was a planning grant that covers June 2019 through May 2020. The Community Opioid Treatment Strategy Project intends to come up with ways that existing organizations and resources in the valley can be harnessed to work on opioid issues. Once those avenues are identified, community groups and treatment centers can apply for additional grants to implement the steps.<\/p>\n

Rollins said the goal isn\u2019t to create new groups for prevention, treatment and recovery, but to \u201cgrow capacity\u201d in the existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some really great experts in this valley,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re leaning on our experts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rollins said he hasn\u2019t seen thorough data on drug overdose deaths in the counties comprising the Roaring Fork Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnecdotally, there\u2019s a ton of opioid use,\u201d he said. \u201cI would say it is widespread.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been some tragic examples of opioid overdoses as well, including the death of two men<\/a> in a home in Blue Lake subdivision in March 2017.<\/p>\n

The opioid crisis started sweeping the U.S. about two decades ago. The number of drug overdose deaths increased from 6.1 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 21.7 deaths in 2017, according to a report by Term\u200bLife2Go<\/a>, which matches clients with insurance companies. Much of the growth in overdose deaths has come since 2014, according to TermLife2Go\u2019s report, which is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

Based on his experience in social work in the valley, Rollins believes a lot of drug addiction is tied to mental health issues.<\/p>\n

The Community Opioid Treatment Strategy Project is eager to refine ideas and figure out how to implement them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some priorities set,\u201d Rollins said. \u201cWe need to figure out how to make those things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group battling the spread of opioid addiction in the Roaring Fork Valley has put out an open invitation to people on the front lines to join them and offer their expertise. Members of the Community Opioid Treatment Strategy Project want \u201cfree rangers\u201d to attend their next meeting Wednesday and broaden the perspective of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 11:21:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}