June 4, Wisconsin Health News

The federal government awarded two Wisconsin groups with $200,000 one-year grants to develop plans to provide treatment for those impacted by the opioid epidemic, according to a recent statement.

The Health Resources and Services Administration's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy provided $24 million across 40 states for the programs.

One of the grants will head to HSHS St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay. The hospital runs the Libertas Treatment Center in Marinette, which will use the grant, as well as $20,000 from the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, to operate the Heroin Opioid Prevention Education Consortium.

The consortium will assess resources available for prevention and treatment of substance use disorders in Oconto, Marinette, Menominee, Shawano and Florence counties. It’ll identify what else is needed and develop a plan to build on current services.

“The HOPE Consortium will allow us to ramp up our efforts in preventing and treating these disorders that are having devastating effects on people of all ages and all walks of life,” Paula Manley, executive director at Libertas, said in a statement.

The other $200,000 grant will head to the Family Health Center of Marshfield at Marshfield Clinic Health System. It’ll conduct an analysis in Wood and Clark counties to identify gaps in substance use disorder treatment and create plans to support those services.

Greg Nycz, executive director of the center, wrote in an email that they applied for the grant “because there are many in our community who need help with substance use disorders and access to the continuum of services that lead to success is problematic all across northern and central Wisconsin."