The Spokane Regional Opioid Task Force announced it was ending this month. Now it may continue in 2024

An organization aimed at combating substance abuse is hoping to revive a local opioid task force that was expected to shut down this month after grant funding ran out.

Formed in 2018 by former Spokane Regional Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz, the Spokane Regional Opioid Task Force was made up of 60 local organizations focused on combating the opioid crisis through collaboration and public education.

These efforts were aided by an employee paid through a federal grant awarded to the Spokane Regional Health District. As that grant and other funding through Spokane County ended beginning in 2024, the task force announced on Facebook earlier this month the organization would end with it.

“As some of you already know, Spokane County and SRHD have decided to end the Spokane Regional Opioid Task Force due to a lack of grant funding. Our program will end effective 29 December 2023,” the Facebook post reads.

The post said the group saw “a great many successes over these past years.”

The West Spokane Wellness Partnership stepped in after the announcement and is in talks to provide the task force with grant funding and reorganize it. According to the coalition’s coordinator, Sarah McNew, the West Spokane Wellness Partnership was “shocked” the task force was ending and wanted to “support its work” any way they could.

“The Spokane Regional Opioid Task Force has raised a lot of education and awareness about addiction to the community, and they have brought a lot of people and stakeholders together,” McNew said.

Also formed in 2018, the Wellness Partnership is a coalition of volunteers in Spokane working against substance misuse. Focused more on children and families, they provide family and parenting programs, social and emotional learning curricula at schools, free medication lock boxes and Narcan, which reverses opioid overdoses.

McNew likened the group’s work to that of the Regional Opioid Task force, which spread community opioid awareness and education through events, outreach, social media, billboards and monthly meetings.

The coalition would fund the task force through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Drug Free Community Grant they already have.

Though no decision has been made, the Wellness Partnership hopes to restart the task force in the new year with its own grant-funded position at the helm.

Spokane Regional Health District Spokesperson Kelli Hawkins said the district hopes to continue to be involved with the reconstituted task force, should it move forward.

“The Opioid Task Force is a convening of wonderful partners who will continue to do great work to prevent opioid addiction and overdose in our community,” Hawkins said.

She also disputed that the Spokane Regional Health District had decided to end the task force.

“Although SRHD supported the Spokane Regional Opioid Task Force by providing a grant-funded employee to help with administration, SRHD leadership and the Spokane County Board of Health do not govern nor approve decisions and activities taken by the collaboration. They operate independent of SRHD, and the collaboration isn’t an SRHD program. We do not have the authority to end the Task Force,” Hawkins said in a statement.

After learning the grant funding was no longer available, the health district had to “make tough budgeting decisions” and end its funding of the program, according to Hawkins.

“Being a good steward of public funds is part of our mission, and yet we remain a strong supporter of efforts to address the opioid crisis in our community,” she said.

The CDC grant was first awarded to the Washington State Department of Health, then to the regional health district. Earlier this year, the CDC limited the funding provided to states, which then limited funding to the health district.

The CDC also created a separate fund for local public health organizations, but the health district did not apply.

Hawkins said applying for the funds “would put SRHD’s finances in jeopardy” because of differences between state and federal requirements.

The health district will continue to maintain its Opioid Overdose Dashboard and other resources combating the opioid epidemic, Hawkins said.

“We remain a stalwart partner and resource for all community organizations and collaborations who are working to help address public health issues in our community,” she said.