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$1M grant targets opioid abuse in southwest Missouri

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The Missouri Foundation for Health awarded a $1 million grant for a project to address opioid abuse led by the Jordan Valley Family Health Foundation.

The local nonprofit plans to use the funding for its initiative dubbed Reimagining Opioid Abuse Treatment and Recovery, according to a news release.

The foundation’s three-year project seeks to reach 750 southwest Missouri opioid addicts and provide treatment, as well as services that address economic situations, housing, education and lack of quality health care.

Jordan Valley Family Health Foundation is led by Kevin Gipson, who retired last year as director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. He started as executive director of the foundation in February, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“We are very appreciative of Missouri Foundation for Health’s support of this innovative project and expect positive results that can be replicated statewide,” Gipson said in the release.

For the project, the foundation is partnering with Gipson’s former department, the Jordan Valley Community Health Center, Preferred Family Healthcare Inc., Community Partnership of the Ozarks, One Door and Legal Services of Southern Missouri.

Jordan Valley Community Health Center and partners have their work cut out for them.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show opioid deaths in Greene County increased to 31.6 per 100,000 people in 2015 from 8.6 per 100,000 in 2000. Nationwide, overdose deaths have tripled since 1999, according to the release.

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