Local health care clinics are among those receiving grants for opioid treatment.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announced Wednesday that 18 community health centers throughout Mississippi will receive just over $5 million in federal funding to implement treatments for opioid and substance abuse.
Greater Meridian Health Clinic and Outreach Health Services in Shubuta are included.
The Expanding Access to Quality Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services (SUD-MH) grant awards will go to community health centers in Ashland, Biloxi, Canton, Clarksdale, Fayette, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Laurel, Lexington, Mantachie, Meridian, Mound Bayou, Pearl, Port Gibson, Sebastopol, Shubuta, and Smithville.
The awards to Mississippi are part of more than 1,200 grants nationwide awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The SUD-MH grants are intended to support evidence-based strategies to treat substance use disorders.
The following 14 community health clinics in Mississippi will each receive $285,000:
• North Mississippi Primary Health Care, Inc., Ashland
• G.A. Carmichael Family Health Center, Inc., Canton
• Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services Center, Inc., Clarksdale
• Jefferson Comprehensive Health Center, Inc., Fayette
• Central Mississippi Civic Improvement Association, Inc., Jackson
• Central Mississippi Health Services, Inc., Jackson
• Family Health Center, Inc. Laurel
• Dr. Arenia C. Mallory Community Health Center, Inc., Lexington
• Greater Meridian Health Clinic, Inc., Meridian
• Delta Health Center, Inc., Mound Bayou
• Family Health Care Clinic, Inc., Pearl
• East Central Mississippi Health Care, Inc., Sebastopol
• Outreach Health Services, Inc., Shubuta
• Access Family Health Services, Inc., Smithville
Other awards include:
• Southeast Mississippi Rural Health, Inc., Hattiesburg – $282,660
• Claiborne County Family Health Center, Port Gibson – $282,235
• Coastal Family Health Center, Inc. Biloxi – $280,379
• Mantachie Rural Health Care, Inc., Mantachie – $195,220
An interagency report issued in April by the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy, in collaboration with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and other agencies, showed that a majority of overdose deaths in Mississippi in 2017 were opioid-related.