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Yazel Eric

Description

Clark County, Indiana is geographically located in between the urban area of Louisville, Kentucky and Scott County, Indiana. Scott County is the site for the largest HIV outbreak in the history of the United States, directly related to high rates of IV drug abuse. The unique geographic location of Clark County in combination with the recent HIV and Hepatitis C outbreaks in Clark and neighboring counties has greatly informed the development of an effective response to overdoses and the opioid epidemic in general. Furthermore, Clark County has a unique population distribution, with a population of over 125,000 and a land area of over 300 square miles. Despite this large area, over 80% of the population lives within 9 miles of the southern border of the county. This leads to a mix of both urban and rural challenges. There are several areas of the county that have greater than 15 minute emergency response times, which is often the difference between life and death in an overdose situation. These factors led to the development of the Clark County Rapid Response Project. The rapid response project is a community-based, multidisciplinary framework to address the opioid addicted patient, from initial use to successful recovery. The project uses data driven technology to initiate the care of opiate overdose patients and administer lifesaving interventions.

Objective: To use novel technologies to develop a rapid response framework to reach opioid overdose patients in an area which is challenging from both a geography and population distribution standpoint.

Submitted by elamb on