BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Kern County Board of Supervisors has approved more funding for local opioid remediation efforts.
Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services is now able to use $573,619 from opioid settlement funds. In 2021, multiple opioid-related lawsuits were settled and billions of dollars were distributed to local governments nationwide.
Ana Olvera with KBHRS said they’ll be using that money now to grow their programs and hire more staff.
“It’s fantastic because normally we don’t have a lot of funding for substance use treatments so whenever we think about expanding, it becomes a challenge. This funding will provide us the ability to move our efforts forward," she said.
Olvera said one of the programs they’ll focus on is the Safe Syringe Service Program, using the money to hire staff and buy equipment.
Staff will go out in the community to safely dispose of used needles, distribute Narcan and provide information on mental health and substance use disorder treatments.
"It helps us to do better outreach to folks who really need our services who may not necessarily be ready to come to us to take advantage of them. This allows us to go to them and start talking about the benefits of using safely, ensure that they can save lives, so with naloxone distribution as well, and just to provide a little bit of hope because at times, it really becomes difficult to take the next step.”
To learn more about KBHRS' various programs, click here.
