With 27 initiatives funded and functional, Robeson sees overdoses halved in two years
On a warm Wednesday, more than 70 people packed into pews at a former church in Pembroke. Soon, it'll be the site for an outpatient recovery center.
On this April afternoon, though, it's a meeting center for the Robeson Rural Communities Opioid Response Consortium.
Social workers, providers, people who have lived with substance use disorder all gathered to discuss the grasp the crisis has on the community and how to address it.
"Coming together as a community to address our needs is not new to us," said Latasha Murray, the director, substance use prevention for Robeson Healthcare Corp. and a founding member of the consortium.
A frequent topic of conversation now is how to spend the more than $15.8 million they're receiving through the opioid settlement funding.
"When we knew this money was coming, we came together, we met, discussed and we’re doing what we’ve always done," she said.
In the wake of the opioid addiction crisis, many state and local governments sued drug manufacturers and distributors for their role in the crisis and settled for over $50 billion to be distributed between them.
North Carolina is set to receive over $1.5 billion. The state's strategy is to split the majority of it between all 100 counties and allow the local leaders to decide how to spend it.
"Every community is different and has their challenges," Murray said.
Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Gaston and Forsyth counties are receiving the most money over the 18-year-period.
The more than $15 million heading to Robeson - which, at its peak in 2021 had an overdose rate almost four times the state's - puts the county at 26th on the list.
"When the funding came, we already knew what our needs were because we were already addressing this issue with limited funding," Murray said.
And it seems their efforts are paying off. For several years Robeson County consistently ranked in the top 10 counties in the state for opioid overdoses. Until recently. The county has used the payouts over the first two years to get 27 initiatives funded and functioning - the highest of any county in the state. They included recovery housing support, naloxone distribution, and early intervention.
"I can't say it's from this funding but [the decrease] shows that some of the prep work we've done to address this issue has set us up," said Murray.
While the state's rate of emergency department visits for opioid overdoses has remained the same, Robeson's has plummeted. In 2021, that rate sat at more than 570 per every 100,000 residents in the county. Now, it is down to 285, 2023 state data shows. While that is still above North Carolina's rate of 161, it is drastic improvement in short time.
"We’re really, really fortunate that some of those initiatives we were already working on are starting to pay off," said Murray.
Some of those earlier initiatives include drug court. That's how Rhiannon Hicks found recovery eight years ago.
"It was peer pressure and I was in a domestic violence relationship," she said, sharing her story about how she began using prescription pills and cocaine by the time she was in her mid-20s. "I think there's so much poverty here. There isn't enough education about these substances but, mostly poverty and despair."
She entered the program after someone called the Department of Social Services, claiming she was using drugs and neglecting her son.
"And when they showed up, they found I had substance use issues," Hicks said.
In the program, she was required to go to court every other week, submit to random drug screens, retain employment and stay in recovery. A family member took care of her son, then 2-years-old, and she temporarily lost custody of him.
"It was traumatizing for me," she said. "Whenever the social worker mentioned foster care, that’s when I knew I had to change my life around and do what I needed to do so he wouldn’t go into the system."
She graduated from the program in six months. February marked eight years and she hasn't looked back.
"I was determined to get through it," she said. "Whenever I’d get up in front of the judge I would tell myself I want to be around the table of people making a difference."
This month, she earned her bachelor's degree from college and now works as a peer support counselor. She is also due in June with her second child.
She says it hasn't been easy. She has had many friends die from overdoses and she teared up while talking about the current state of the crisis.
"The fentanyl is terrible in this county," Hicks said. "I am very, very grateful that I never chose to use that because I know I wouldn’t be standing here today. That is the truth. But I also know that recovery is possible."
