The Center for Health and Human Services
RCORP: Changing the Trajectory for Opioids in Wilson County
The Center for Health and Human Services (CHHS) received a $1 million Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) implementation grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in September 2021. This grant allows for implementation of activities identified during the earlier HRSA planning grant and brings additional needed resources to rural Wilson County communities to address the opioid epidemic over a three-year period. CHHS, our campus partners, and Wilson County community partners represented by DrugFree WilCo have worked together over the last several years continuing to fight the opioid epidemic and making a difference in the health and lives of Tennesseans. Read about early efforts in this December 2022 media release featuring the Wilson County PIC Center as a spotlight partner. Also, take a look at CHHS newsletters which provide updates on the RCORP Wilson County project in several editions. As of 2024, the grant was extended an additional year to provide patient services. A full report of the 4.5year project is available here.
There are three core initiatives that are part of the RCORP grant which were completed in the first year of the planning grant: medication-assisted treatment (MAT) training for Wilson County law enforcement, HRSA-sponsored billing and coding training for recovery treatment center staff, and the development of a data dashboard for opioid overdoses that would allow for improved data sharing, interagency communications, and decision- making.
Transportation continues to be provided through August 2025 to patients needing transportation to treatment, and qualifying patients continue to have treatment costs covered through the grant. A three-year, three-part sustainability plan has been developed in conjunction with the local coalition for work to continue when the grant was to initially end in August 2024. Project outcomes are available here.
Measuring Community Stigma – and Stigma Reduction Efforts
A stigma education campaign was implemented in 2022 with six billboards being placed throughout the county with positive messaging and which linked to local community resources. This was repeated again in 2024 with six new billboards. These billboards were part of a larger effort which included education for the general public health, community professionals, and law enforcement in Wilson County.
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Data were collected before the billboards were erected and again several months later at the Wilson County Tennessee State Fair when the billboards were taken down in 2022 and again in 2023 and 2024. Outcomes were shared with local stakeholders and are included in the Year 2 2023 RCORP Wilson County Provider and Community Stigma report. An earlier 2022 RCORP Wilson County Provider and Community Stigma Report (Year 1) is available for viewing with a Year 3 2024 report currently under development. Data were collected from residents of multiple counties who attended the fair with the report providing information specific to both Wilson County as well as those from other Tennessee counties.
CHHS was successful in applying for and receiving additional grant funds that support MAT in a multi-county area, provides mobile treatment services, and facilitates prevention activities with multiple community partners. CHHS also has applied for and was successful with local and state opioid abatement funds and is now able to provide support and technical assistance to communities throughout the state in their efforts to secure funding and continue efforts to address the opioid epidemic locally.
CHHS is grateful for the pilot RCORP project in Wilson County – with thanks and gratitude to consortium partners Cedar Recovery, DrugFree Wilco, Mid-Cumberland Transportation, and Uber, along with the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) for providing the funding for this important work. The pilot project in Wilson County set the stage for future work that will help countless Tennesseans who are dealing with opioid use/substance use disorder.
HRSA Planning Grant
CHHS, in collaboration with DrugFree WilCo, and with funding from the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), completed an 18-month comprehensive planning effort to address opioid usage to prevent overdoses within Wilson County, Tennessee. The planning grant ended in 2021 and the team was awarded funding for implementation activities to be carried out through August of 2024 (note: the grant has been extended through August 2025 for activities specific to patient care and limited research and dissemination of project outcomes).
Click here to see the Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis for Wilson County completed as part of the HRSA planning grant.
CHHS partners in this effort include faculty from the Department of Health and Human Performance and the MTSU Data Science Institute. “RCORP: Changing the Trajectory for Opioids in Wilson County” will equip rural communities in Wilson County with a step-by-step plan to address opioid abuse across the county, with the intent of reducing fatalities due to overdose and the associated economic burden related to misuse. Because opioid usage is often co-occurring with other substances, the efforts of the project will also include excessive alcohol consumption as a periphery focus. “RCORP: Changing the Trajectory for Opioids in Wilson County” will involve a broad array of stakeholders from the Wilson County community to transform the DrugFree WilCo group into a formal consortium to create and implement a strategic action plan based on an in-depth needs analysis. These activities are being carried out by DrugFree WilCo consortium members committed to the success of the project through signed MOUs and MOAs.
