by Joan Eliyesil ·
Friday, November 1, 2024
Things looked pretty dismal when the first two of three sessions intended to gather input from residents on how to spend the town’s opioid settlement funds drew a crowd of one. But the third session, held in person at the Harvard Senior Center on Oct. 22, was attended by nine residents who brought a variety of perspectives on the topic.
The session was moderated by Helen McDermott of the Public Consulting Group, hired by the town to conduct a survey and hold listening sessions to help the Board of Health and Select Board determine how to spend the town’s oversized $620,000 opioid settlement fund allocation. The first session was attended only by two members of the Select Board and the Fire Chief, who all said they were there to hear from residents. One resident attended the second session, but when questioned on how to spend the money, she said she knew there were problems in the state, but didn’t know where help was needed or how a regional approach might work.
Attendance at the third session included Superintendent of Schools Linda Dwight and Board of Health Chair Libby Levison, who were both there in a professional as well as a personal capacity. McDermott first asked the group their opinion on taking a regional approach to spending the funds, something over half the people who responded to the survey indicated they wanted.
One attendee responded that because Harvard got more than its share of funds, it was the town’s duty to share it with those who got less. Another respondent said that Devens likely didn’t get any of the settlement (they didn’t), so Harvard should share with them, especially since the final settlement payments will come after the future of Devens governance is decided.
Others disagreed with a completely regional approach. One resident mentioned that since Nashoba Valley Medical Center closed, the town’s EMTs need more training, and because Harvard provides mutual aid to other towns, that spending could be considered regional. Another said prevention should be the focus, and that work should mostly be done in the schools in Harvard and other area towns. A resident responded that prevention should not just focus on young people, but also on other groups, such as seniors who might suffer an injury and get addicted to painkillers or veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Attendees mentioned trying to tap into existing structures that have the expertise to facilitate a regional spending approach, such as the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, which oversees boards of health in 16 towns, including Harvard and Devens. Board of Health member Brad Holub said five towns that are part of NABH are already looking for ideas to put settlement funds to work as a region.
Other structures were also mentioned as possibilities for regional spending, including the town’s veterans agent, who serves other area towns, and Clear Path for Veterans in Devens, which offers addiction services in this area.
McDermott then asked the group what was going well and not going well in the three categories that survey respondents identified as priorities—prevention and education, connections to care, and treatment and recovery. Holub mentioned Advocates Community Counseling, located in Harvard, which provides help with addiction recovery. Dwight said the schools provide referrals to addiction and mental health services through the counseling department and the school nurses.
One attendee said Harvard has Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which now welcome people suffering from any substance addiction. He said most halfway houses send residents with addiction problems to AA meetings in the area, and there are many people in those meetings in recovery from severe addictions. He also mentioned TaraVista Behavioral Health Center in Devens, which offers inpatient care for substance abuse.
On the negative side, a resident said there are long waits to get into halfway houses, and patients typically are kept in hospitals until a spot in a halfway house opens up. He also said that there are comparatively few AA meetings in this area.
The group was not in agreement on whether funds should be spent on education. One resident said education at the school level doesn’t address the opioid problem, which stems from overprescription and overuse of medications for pain or trauma. Holub said education is needed to address that cause as well, because patients are often not informed of the addictive properties of opioids. Another resident said it would be wrong to assume that everyone knows that now, especially younger people. McDermott added that opioid addiction is evolving, especially now that fentanyl is in the drug supply.
One attendee said educational materials already exist for this purpose, and the funds should be used for what isn’t already there or is underfunded to help the people suffering the most. Another said education only reaches the people who are willing to engage, and they are not typically the people who need help.
Holub said there are currently a lot of metrics being collected about the effectiveness of various opioid settlement fund spending measures across the country, and the Board of Health’s Addiction Abatement Fund working group will use that information to help make its recommendations to the Select Board.
Results of the Public Consulting Group’s survey, to which more than 170 residents responded, will be available sometime in November.