Oregon Overdose and Suicide Prevention Funding

Overdose prevention funding - Oregon

There were 106,699 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2021 (32.4 deaths per 100,000 standard population), a 16% increase from 2020.1

*average award amount

Examples of how Oregon in working to prevent overdose

Law enforcement naloxone training and distribution

Oregon supports regional overdose prevention coordinators to connect with police and sheriff offices about naloxone distribution and overdose prevention. Statewide, coordinators have worked with approximately 58 police and county sheriff departments to ensure their officers carry and properly use naloxone.

Peer recovery mentor program

Oregon's Combating Overdose through Community-Level Intervention initiative for peer recovery mentorship increased the number of individuals served and established new partnerships and connections to resources for peer support, housing, treatment, employment, and harm reduction. These partnerships have also led to additional collaborations to support 18–35-year-olds in the state struggling with substance use.

Assessment of fentanyl among people who use drugs

Oregon conducted an in-depth assessment among 34 individuals to explore knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among people who use drugs in Oregon in response to the emergence of fentanyl in the drug supply. Findings from this assessment were collected and disseminated rapidly and broadly via academic and community partners.

Suicide prevention funding - Oregon

Examples of how Oregon is working to prevent suicide

Leveraging a data dashboard

American Indian and Alaska Native people in Oregon experience a 1.4 times higher rate of suicide compared to non-American Indian and Alaska Native people. Younger American Indian and Alaska Native people are at especially high risk for suicide-related outcomes. Tribes have historically lacked access to timely and actionable data on suicide in their communities. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, member tribes in Oregon's Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center voiced concerns about the potential for adverse mental health outcomes in tribal communities. Access to ED-SNSRO data allowed the Center to quickly begin monitoring and reporting nonfatal suicide-related outcomes in Oregon's American Indian and Alaska Native population and helped to address these concerns. The Center pulled the data on a weekly basis and reported them to the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and to member tribes using a data dashboard. Without these data, tribes struggled to track the burden of nonfatal suicide-related outcomes in their communities, identify high risk groups, advocate for prevention and treatment resources, and evaluate the long-term effect of prevention programs.

Conducting outreach to partners

The June 2020 inception of a monthly suicide report (Suicide-related Public Health Surveillance Update: Suicide-Related Visits to Emergency Departments, Urgent Care Centers, Calls to Oregon Poison Center and Lines for Life) sparked a need for more partner outreach. In response, the ED-SNSRO staff in Oregon implemented an internal monthly data review with epidemiologists and suicide and overdose prevention staff. The group is responsible for identifying which data or trends should be elevated to other public health authorities and the public.