TITLE
title
DHHS-PUBLIC HEALTH: BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD VENDING MACHINE CONTRACT ($7,500)
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SPONSOR
sponsor
Anita Ramachandran
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BACKGROUND
background
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s Healthy Blue program has offered to fund the purchase of a vending machine in Guilford County to increase access to naloxone and other harm reduction supplies, such as fentanyl and xylazine test strips for overdose prevention. The Guilford County Division of Public Health (GCDPH) was asked to select a community partner who could host the vending machine in a location easily accessible by the public.
Triad Health Project’s High Point Site has been selected as the community partner to host the vending machine. This location was identified using data from Guilford County EMS (GCEMS) and Guilford County Solution to the Opioid Problem (GCSTOP) as a strategic area where harm reduction supplies are critically needed.
Currently, GCDPH is the only provider of harm reduction vending machines in Guilford County. There are existing vending machines in the lobbies of the Greensboro Detention Center and the High Point Detention Center: which are managed and stocked by the Drug and Injury Prevention Program GCDPH using supplies purchased with opioid settlement funding.
Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown that increasing access to naloxone can decrease drug overdose deaths by up to 50%. The addition of this vending machine will provide easier access to naloxone and other harm reduction supplies to further support efforts to reduce harm from drug use in the community. The demand for items in the existing vending machines has remained consistent, with refills needed every 6-8 weeks on average.
This initiative aligns with two opioid settlement spending strategies recommended to the County: naloxone access and harm reduction. The quantities of vending machine products accessed by the public are contained in the annual report for the op...
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