Arizona will receive $17 million as part of a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is distributing more than $300 million to help states tackle the opioid crisis.
Dr. Cara Christ is the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. "This is really going to help us increase our surveillance activities related to opioid overdoses," she said. "We’re going to use it here at the state in order to increase our capacity to be able to collect and get that information out so we can better inform our local prevention activities from our county and community partners."
And getting that money to the local communities, Christ said, is key so they can develop awareness and prevention strategies that work best for them.
"Eleven county health departments are going to get funding through this grant from us," she said. "Maricopa County actually go their own grant out of this same thing, so they’re not part of the 11. But what they’ll be doing is its going to help increase access to care for people who may be at high risk of an opioid overdose."
Christ said the funds will help counties set up the infrastructure needed to distribute naloxone, which is used to counter the effects of an overdose.
