Hyde County Substance Abuse Prevention Efforts Underway
The opioid epidemic affects everyone in our county, state and nation without regard to economic status, age, race or gender.
In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of drug overdose deaths in North Carolina increased by over 14% in the one-year period between 2014 and 2015.
The Hyde County Board of Commissioners is taking a leadership role in addressing the fundamental causes of this problem and to initiate local steps to intervene in these trends.
A group of county staff including the Managers Office, Emergency Services, the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, Cooperative Extension and the Sheriff’s Office have met and identified key stakeholders.
Goals:
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1) To create and implement a comprehensive education/prevention program;
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2) To identify treatment options, identify barriers to treatment, work towards creation of more treatment
resources and methods to open treatment to those in need;
3) Support the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office in getting drug dealers off of our streets.
Hyde County held a Leadership Forum on Thursday, July 13, 2017 at 10 a.m. in the Hyde County Government Center Multipurpose Room and in the Ocracoke Community Center via telecommunications equipment and engaged local elected leaders, substance abuse agencies, staff and other stakeholders in an informed discussion about the opioid epidemic in an effort to develop collaborative strategies that enhance prevention, education, and treatment.
The next step is to have community meetings in all 5 townships of Hyde County to educate citizens on the signs and symptoms of opioid abuse, to share information on current treatment resources available and to gather input from our citizens in regard to this fight. This public input will be combined with the information already gathered to move forward in planning and implementing a program. In addition, Hyde County will create a web page that contains all of these resources where citizens will be able to sign up for email updates on the progress of the group.
In summary and simply put, Hyde County’s goals will be to educate and prevent people from becoming addicted, to supply treatment resources to help people to recover from addiction and to stop illegal drug activity. We truly need the input and support of our residents to ensure these efforts are a success.
To subscribe to receive updates and all other county information please email dshumate@hydecountync.gov and ask to be put on the Hyde Happenings distribution list. Information will also be posted on the county website and social media outlets.
