Agenda 12-12-23; 6-a - Opioid Advisory Committee Settlement Use Recommendations and Approval of Budget Amendment #4-B

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22 sensitive nature of each persons need for help, paired with the difficulty of urgently enrolling in these services and the efforts involved to do so creates great difficulty and frustration in obtaining the necessary treatment for OUD (McLean&Kavanaugh, 2019). The Post Overdose Response Team(PORT) service proposed within this document will provide a proven and effective strategy for filling this gap by connecting individuals who experience an overdose or withdrawal directly to treatment, regardless of their disposition from the scene of an EMS incident. This PORT response model has become the standard of care in providing field-based MAT and connecting individuals in need with the services that they require to ensure survival and well-being. As of this year, at least 41 counties within North Carolina have an active PORT (NC-DHHS, attachment Q. In addition to providing this critical service to all eligible individuals who have interfaced with Orange County EMS,the PORT will create a pathway for any other eligible individuals to have direct access to the services provided by this program. This resource will be available for partnering county departments, emergency departments, local organizations and the community at-large. The services offered will be flexible in order to accommodate an array of potential needs ranging from temporary gap coverage in someone transferring treatment services, to accommodating the treatment needs of any eligible Orange County resident who is independently reaching out for help. OC-EMS is requesting funding to create a PORT that operates seven days a week, and consists of services provided by community paramedics (CPs) and Peer Support Specialists (PSSs) within OC-EMS. During active hours, the PORT will be capable of responding directly to the scene of an opioid overdose or withdrawal incident and initiating MAT on location when appropriate. In addition, the OC-EMS CP program will conduct daily surveillance of EMS PCRs and other external referral pathways to begin connecting eligible individuals to PORT services between 24-72 hours of EMS incident or submission of external request. For each eligible individual, the PORT will be equipped to provide daily dosing of buprenorphine at the location that best suits the individual for up to seven consecutive days. During this time, the PORT will actively navigate the individual to the most appropriate treatment provider for their specific situation, at which time a warm hand-off will be provided when applicable. Project Description OC-EMS will create, operate and manage a PORT within the geographic constraints of Orange County, NC. Available resources will be utilized to identify, contact, assess, treat, and navigate individuals to ongoing treatment and recovery resources. This team will be built directly upon the Orange County Emergency Services ETHOS of integrity, respect, fairness and compassion. All eligible opioid overdose patients encountered by an OC-EMS response will be offered PORT services on the scene of the incident by the responding EMS unit. In addition,the PORT will be dispatched alongside the responding EMS unit to any suspected opioid overdose or withdrawal incident as available. The PORT response will be active twelve hours per day, seven days per week. EMS response data,along with external referral pathways will be reviewed daily for all other potential clients. Potential clients will then be contacted urgently, not to exceed 72 hours of incident or referral. Upon successful contact and expressed interest from any potential client, a visit will be scheduled by the PORT and will be based on the client's convenience of location and time. In the event that the PORT directly interfaces with an eligible participant on the scene of an EMS incident, MAT services will be initiated at location as applicable. 3