SE Colorado Region 19 Opioid Settlement Board
June 24, 2024 via Zoom
Present, County Represented
Blaine Arbuthnot, Terry McMillian, Crowley
Wendy Buxton-Andrade, Prowers
Rick Butler, Baca
Kim McDonnell, Joni Wilk, Bent
Rob Oquist, Otero
Dennis Pearson, Meagan Hillman, Kiowa
John Galusha, Huerfano
Steve Bryant, Pueblo
Guests
Ginger Whately, Elizabeth Riffle, Crossroads Turning Points
Terri Schreiber, The Schreiber Research Group (TSRG)
Jude Salano, Felicia Tapia, Danielle Harwell, SoCo Harm Reduction
Theodora Barychewsky, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
Torrie Jordan, Sarah Money, Danielle Willis, Colorado Health Network
Matt Fischer, Colorado Health Network
Rob Miller, SafeSide Recovery
Michelle Francis, Catholic Charities of Southern CO
Marisa Stoller, City of Pueblo
Jim Edgar, Health Solutions
Aubrie Radford, CSU Prevention Research Center
Christine Charron, SCHN Pueblo/Access Point Pueblo
Kristin Carpenter, Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drugs
Call to Order
Wendy Buxton-Andrade called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
Approval of Agenda
Rob Oquist and Rick Butler moved and seconded the approval of the Agenda – Agenda approved.
Approval of Minutes
Blaine Arbuthnot and Dennis Pearson moved and seconded the approval of the minutes with the two spelling errors corrected. – Minutes approved.
Facilitator Update
Rose gave un update on the Press Conference and the July 10th meeting will have the SECOR website posting policy for a voting item on the agenda. She has been working on getting all the grant recipients scheduled for each of our future meetings.
VOTING ITEM: Colorado Health Network Contract Extension
Matt Fischer from Colorado Health Network presented a request for a contract extension until the end of October because of the delay in hiring qualified personnel for the positions to fulfill the duties they had listed in their grant proposal.
Blaine Arbuthnot and Rick Butler seconded the motion to approve the extension of the contract until October 31, 2024, for Colorado Health Network. Motion Approved.
Grantee Presentation
Jude Solano and Danielle Harwell from SCHRA presented about their work with the unhoused, their work with handing out Naloxone and support for families. They continued their partnership with Goal Academy, 3 LEAF participants with FED and with the jails. In their work with Support for Families, they have provided shoes and school cleaning supplies with backpack events and summer camps with Pueblo Adventure camps.
Torrie Jordan, Tori Cervi and Sarah Money from Colorado Health Network presented on the Connect at Access Point integrated care model, connection and skills building and street outreach mobile unit with building trust with providers and the outreach crew. They are currently doing outreach on Friday’s only but are trying to expand to other days also.
Other business
The need for additional posters and cards was discussed and directed that 5,000 additional business cards and 100 posters will be ordered. Commissioner Buxton-Andrade will work with Commissioner Arbuthnot to get these ordered as soon as they can. The posters and business cards have been a huge success and they are getting into the hands of people within the Region to make sure that everyone has access to the website. There was also discussion about getting the RFP members back together to finalize the recommendations for the Board for the Education and Prevention Grants. There was also a discussion about getting a regional meeting together once a month with all providers and anyone interested to share ideas of what they are doing in their communities to help with networking in the region for services. Terri Schreiber volunteered to help coordinate the efforts.
There was also an announcement by Commissioner Buxton-Andrade that she will be stepping down as a County Commissioner on August 1, 2024. Commissioner Galusha also announced that he will be stepping down as a County Commissioner on July 3, 2024. Both will be missed by the Board and thanked for all their hard work.
Adjournment
Rob Oquist and Blaine Arbuthnot motioned to adjourn – Motion approved
Next Meeting:
Monday, July 8, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.