Approved Minutes of May 28, 2025

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MINUTES-Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH May 28, 2025 • Regarding settlement funding, in North Carolina the State receives 15% of settlement funds while the 100 individual counties receive 85% of settlement funds, with allotments varying based on projected need for each county. • Counties have a choice of two options for their Memorandum of Agreement, Option A (a very structured spending plan emphasizing high-impact abatement and prevention) or Option B (a less structured plan that requires more planning but allows for more freedom in selecting treatment and prevention approaches). Orange County chose Option A and will receive a total of$12,296,286 over 18 years. Ms. Stancil commented that this seems like a large sum, but when you consider that it will be used to fund dozens of programs for many years, it is not that much money. • For Fiscal Year 2024-2025, Orange County funded four programs: Freedom House —an Evidence Based Treatment program; the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) Program —a Reentry Program; the Lantern Project— a Recovery Support Services program; and PORT—the Post-Overdose Response Team, a subset of emergency services. • For Fiscal Year 2025-2026, Orange County received fourteen applications and will be funding five programs: Freedom House; UNC Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC); Piedmont Health; El Futuro; and Reintegration Support Network. Funding will begin on July 1st, 2025. • Orange County Health Department provides several harm-reduction services, including a syringe support program and naloxone kits. Orange County Health Department also collaborates with several student programs at local Universities to provide education and prevent opioid misuse. • Ms. Stancil concluded her presentation by speaking about the new Trauma Informed Counties in Practice program, which provides stronger internal supports for staff and improved services for community members by applying a trauma-informed lens to all Orange County Government operations and services, including for Health Department operations. She emphasized that applying a trauma-informed lens to care provision benefits not just external partners, but staff as well. • Dr. Jonnal thanked Ms. Stancil for her work and asked how the Board of Health and Health Department can help measure effectiveness of the settlement efforts. Ms. Stancil explained that in North Carolina programs that receive settlement funding are required to periodically report metrics for accountability and data purposes. Dr. Jonnal noted that there is often a lag in tracking epidemiological improvements and Ms. Stewart shared that, per the opioid dashboard, there has been a significant decrease in substance use disorder in North Carolina. She added that, in addition to data, the programs share stories and testimonials to round out the picture of their impact. Dr. Rodgers commented that it's likely too early to determine whether the settlement is working. In response to Dr. Stuebe's question about viewing program impact reports, Ms. Stancil said that the goal is to make them publicly available. • Dr. Royce noted that there is a difference between considering process measures (e.g., number of people served by the program) and outcome measures (e.g., number of opioid deaths in the county). Ms. Stewart explained that the opioid settlement report considers three measures of performance, including both process and outcome measures. She added that some of the programs that were funded for FY2024-2025 were funded again in FY2025-2026 after proving efficacy. • Dr. Baldwin commented that if there is a reduction in opioids being illegally imported into the USA then that should impact opioid outcomes, too. • In response to Dr. Royce's question, Ms. Stancil said that because of the funding limitations she has been primarily focused on what can be realistically funded and would S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agendas &Abstracts\2025 Agenda and Abstracts/ May Page 6