Health Impact Ohio Leads New Partnership of Families Harmed by Opioids to Apply for Opioid Settlement Funding

By: Heidi Welch, Chief Operating Officer, Health Impact Ohio

A new partnership of families hurt by opioid use and opioid overdose has applied for opioid settlement funding to help families and children directly harmed by Ohio’s opioid epidemic.  Family groups already working to help those harmed by opioids joined together to form a partnership to request settlement funds to support and expend their efforts. Health Impact Ohio is serving as a strategic consultant and fiscal administrator for the effort.

The Ohio Partnership for Families Impacted by Opioids (Impacted Families) is a new and novel partnership to ensure a legacy of hope and security for the many Ohio families affected by the opioid crisis. The partnership’s mission is to support a collaborative, family-centered approach to strengthen and uplift Ohio communities hit hard by the opioid crisis.

“The people who are a part of Impacted Families know that the wrongs that have been inflicted on their families cannot be remedied, but these dollars being distributed by the state as a consequence must provide support and real impact to and for families who are left to navigate lives ruined by the pharmaceutical industries havoc,” says Impacted Families co-chair and OhioCAN founder and executive director, Cindy Koumoutzis.

The request for funding was made to the non-profit OneOhio Recovery Foundation, which will receive 55% of the $2 billion in opioid settlement money that Ohio will receive over 18 years. OneOhio will approve its first round of opioid settlement grants that equal over $50 million this summer. Applications closed Friday.

"It is vitally important to communities that are disproportionately impacted by the Opioid crisis to know that they have not been forgotten. Having a group of diverse voices representing impacted families come together to address the devastating impact to families represents real change in how we most address those Ohioans that have been harmed by opioids." says Yvonka Hall, Impacted Families co-chair and Executive Director of member organization the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition.

The family groups involved include:

• Ohio Change Addiction Now (OHIOCAN)

• Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition

• Ohio Grandparent/Kinship Coalition

• Ohio Federation for Health Equity and Social Justice

• Harm Reduction Ohio

• BirdieLight

• Kinship Caregivers Connect

• Ohio Family Care Association

• Keys 2 Serenity

When an individual within a family unit is battling addiction, a wide array of medical and community-based services is available to support the individual seeking treatment; however, there are fewer family-led support groups or gatherings.  In addition, should a family member overdose or die due to opioid use, there are gaps for families in the immediate aftermath. Emergency funds for items such as funeral costs (cremation/burial), emergency transportation, additional food, housing needs based on changing family dynamics/kinship care such as increased rent/utilities’, beds/cribs, clothing, childcare (including summer camps and before/afterschool care), school expenses (backpacks, school supplies), attaining birth certificates, health and wellness items (shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, medicines, etc.), are minimal, and none are family-led. And yet these unanticipated emergency costs are substantial.

While some families have been able to absorb such emergency costs, other families are left in financial devastation and are unable to fully engage in overall recovery (therapeutic family healing and/or actual drug-free lifestyles) due to stress, shame, guilt, or hardship incurred.

Eventually, families may find kinship support, enroll in subsidized childcare, food and transportation assistance as necessary, but many kinship providers may not qualify from an income perspective. If they do, there is still a gap in time between expenses incurred in the immediate aftermath of death/incarceration/crisis treatment and enrollment for support services.

The proposals submitted to OneOhio Foundation by Impacted Families include a diverse set of funding opportunities based on the needs of each region applying including (but not limited to):

• An emergency fund that families can apply to for urgent needs such as funeral costs, utility payments, medical bills, daily hygiene, transportation costs, etc.

• Funds to already functioning programs such as free stores, harm reduction services, food access programs to help sustain programs that are already successfully serving the community but are at risk of closing due to lack of funding

• Funds to support programs around the state that will educate peer support groups on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and health equity

• Funding of regional family project coordinators

• Dollars to support kinship peer mentors

• Resources to support weekly support and recovery meetings

Koumoutzis stated, “This is a ‘nothing about us without us’ scenario and it must be a priority that the opioid settlement dollars go to the people who have been directly impacted by this crisis. We have lost our parents, children, sisters, brothers and friends. We are left picking up the pieces and we deserve to have our efforts supported by the funds that will never right the wrongs of the pharmaceutical companies, but will help us rebuild the lives we have left.”

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Ohio Partnership for Families Impacted by Opioids (Impacted Families) is a new and novel partnership vision of Ohioans directly impacted by opioid use and overdose death. The partnership’s mission is to support a collaborative family approach that strengthens, empowers, and uplifts Ohio communities affected by the historical, current, and future opioid crisis. It seeks to leverage opioid settlement spending at the state, regional and local level to support existing efforts families have already undertaken. The Impacted Families’ guiding principles are to educate about the opioid crisis; advocate for impacted families to have a seat at the decision-making table; and promote healing for families, especially children, devastated by opioids.