The Seward County fund created in August 2024 to make grants to local organizations addressing opioid addiction or its aftermath has made just one grant and anticipates additional opioid settlement funding soon.
Seward County Commissioner Raegan Hain said Oct. 13 that the Seward County fund made a grant of up to $6,035 to the Seward County Problem Solving Court since it was created and received only one other application, which was not granted.
The county’s settlement fund has a balance of about $33,000 remaining and Hain has been notified that additional settlement payouts are coming.
Seward County commissioners in 2024 opted to create their own fund to allocate their share of the national opioid settlements coming to Nebraska. These payments are from companies related to the pharmaceutical or its sale, including Janssen, Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and Kroger Co.
The state Opioid Recovery Fund receives the bulk of Nebraska’s opioid settlement funds and makes grants through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, like Region V.
Seward County and local groups are eligible to apply for state grants.
Hain noted that Four Corners Health Department has received state Overdose2Action grants to make NARCAN, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses, easily available in Seward County gathering areas and to emergency responders.
The Flatwater Free Press recently reported on how Nebraska’s 93 counties have utilized the settlement funds, noting that 35 counties are sending funds to regional behavioral health authorities that have mental health and substance abuse services, 43 counties have not yet spent any of their allocations, and at least nine counties have used funds to purchase Flock cameras or other law enforcement tools.
The Seward County fund is intended to help people who are having opioid addiction issues get access to needed services locally, and Hain said there is no deadline for the county to expend the funds.
“I am also about not duplicating services,” Hain said. “I would like to see something going forward.”
Applications for the county grants may be submitted based on information on the county’s website, which offers several examples of eligible programs. The Seward County Board of Commissioners votes on allocations.
Hain has worked with the fund since its start, but said when her term on the county board ends in January, Commissioner Misty Ahmic will take that role.
Programs eligible for grants must do one or more of these things:
• Treat opioid use disorder
• Support people in treatment and recovery
• Help connect people to needed help
• Address needs of people involved in the criminal justice system
• Address needs of pregnant or parenting women and their families, including babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome
• Prevent over-prescribing and ensure appropriate prescribing and dispensing of opioids
• Prevent misuse of opioids
• Prevent overdose deaths and other harms
• Aid first responders
• Aid leadership, planning and coordination
• Provide training
• Advance research
