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Focus Areas
Addressing the opioid epidemic requires a multi-pronged strategy spanning from activities aimed at preventing opioid misuse from ever starting to those that support individuals in recovery — and everything in between.
The many opioid-related activities and programs underway and/or planned for the future on Hawaiʻi Island are categorized into six focus areas, all with the goals of reducing opioid deaths, improving the quality of life for those impacted by opioid use disorder, and using data to drive our county’s opioid response.
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Edu & Prev
Education & Prevention
The goal is to bring awareness of the dangers of drug use and strategies to prevent addiction to everyone on the island above the age of 10.
Objective 1
Education and prevention through in-person/zoom training, school presentations, community fairs, and annual conferences.
Objective 2
Education and prevention through the media (radio, news, tv, social media, and sign-waving.
Objective 3
Education and prevention through an integrated and interactive website.
Objective 4
Education to key policy decision-makers (state, county, and federal levels.)
Objective 5
Build education & prevention capacity.
Screening &
Early Intervention
The goal is to ensure that Screening and early Prevention prioritizes that every point of entry has addiction screening and early intervention protocols.
Screening & Early Intr
Objective 1
Identify who is eligible for screening and connecting actual providers.
Objective 2
Create culture-based training models and series to communicate with different communities.
Objective 3
Create a system to incentivize providers as buy-in to the program.
Treatment
Treatment Services
Objective 1
Increase treatment availability on Hawaiʻi Island.
The goal is to increase the array of evidence-based treatment options for people with addictions and co-occurring mental health concerns by expanding the network of care providers in both informal and formal settings.
Objective 2
Help expand the UH Masters program by including faculty in research to determine capacity, define levels of care, identify providers to help with the assessments, etc.
Objective 3
Increase the quality of care, ensure that care is evidence based.
Objective 4
Improve telehealth capabilities to increase access.
Recovery Support
Objective 1
Identifying resources for treatment centers, IOPs, and accessibility to resources to strengthen recovery and success.
The goal is to ensure that people in recovery have the coping skills to deal with daily stressors, cravings, dependence, and triggers and are engaged in recovery activities such as joining a support group.
Recovery Support
Objective 2
Bridging the gaps and creating positive foundations to help build support and an effective reintegration into our communities.
Objective 3
Help individuals find a higher power, find themselves, restore their personal kuleana.
Objective 4
Improve telehealth capabilities to increase access.
Harm Reduction
Objective 1
Identify high-risk populations and spaces to target to our data groups, Police, Fire, EMS, and find out where overdosing occurs.
The goal is to prevent overdose through the use of Narcan and Fentanyl Test Strips and offer low-threshold options for accessing substance use disorder treatment and other health care.
Harm Reduction
Objective 2
Notifying our legislators on Narcan and testing kits, continue at the county level with council, have bar training here on Hawaiʻi Island.
Objective 3
Focus on cleaning paraphernalia to reboot syringe exchange program.
Objective 4
Narcan and test training goal of 50 bars and nightclubs will seek volunteers to kōkua.
Data Analysis & Evaluation
Collaborate with Treatment Providers, County, and State partners to enhance the ability to identify in real-time key data points such as overdose deaths, high utilizers of emergency room services due to overdose, administration of Narcan and lives saved and where, calls made to the poison center due to opioid poisoning, and other types of surveillance tracking.
Objective 1
Track fatal overdoses from all drugs and investigate the breakdown of substance inquiring.
Objective 2
Continue to track EMS treatment and deployment of Narcan, and acquire Police data on the treatment given by Police.
Data Analysis & Evaluation
Objective 3
Communicate a summary of data on the website every 3-6 months, echoing the Police Chief's report every three months.
Objective 4
More synchronized approach to data publication.
Objective 5
Make overdose incidents mapping available on the website.
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