Essentia Health
Please note - This grantee has completed their period of performance for their RCORP Planning grant. As such, the information listed here may not be the most updated information available.
Project Summary
The purpose of the Upper Midwest Rural Opioid Response Implementation Project is to increase access to evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery substance abuse/opioid use disorder (SUD/OUD) strategies in rural Northern Minnesota, in order to reduce opioid overdoses and improve health outcomes by joining forces to plan strategies. Rural communities provide individuals and families with a sense of small town closeness and strong community ties. On the other hand, rural communities have higher rates of premature death; one possible cause is higher rates of substance use, especially in the upper Midwest and tribal communities. Factors characteristic of rural areas, such as lack of access to health care, also contribute to higher rates of premature death. In summer 2018, organizations across Southeastern North Dakota (ND), Northern Minnesota (MN) and Northwestern Wisconsin (WI) came together to create the Upper Midwest Rural Opioid Response Planning Project, successfully competing for a HRSA opioid planning grant. The Project’s Regional Consortium, including representation from 2 rural communities (combining recovery programs, public health, and primary care clinics), treatment programs in urban settings, and a representative from the state office of rural health and primary care, has met monthly. Each organization signed an MOU committing to participate in the project. Two rural consortia (networks) located in Eastern and Western MN, represented on the Regional Consortium by rural EH primary care clinic staff and through recovery programs, also met monthly to identify existing resources and gaps and articulate local needs to be addressed regarding substance, especially opioid, use, misuse, and abuse.
Goals for the implementation phase are:
Goal 1. To prevent substance/opioid use disorder and negative effects of those disorders in two rural areas (East Rural Opioid Response Implementation Area and West Rural Opioid Response Implementation Area).
Goal 2. To increase access to evidence-based treatment strategies in rural and tribal communities.
Goal 3. To make SUD/OUD treatment and recovery programming available to individuals and families in rural and tribal communities.
Goal 4. To successfully manage the UM ROR Implementation Project.
Consortium Members
Center for Drug and Alcohol Treatment
Essentia Health
Essentia Health Ashland Clinic
Essentia Health St. Mary’s Regional Health Center
Essentia Health Virginia LLC dba Essentia Health Ely Clinic
Essentia Health Virginia LLC dba Essentia Health Virginia Clinic
Essentia Institute of Rural Health
Father Project CHI St. Joseph's Health
Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership
Minnesota Department of Health, Office of Rural Health and Primary Care
Northern Pines Mental Health Center (member of NorthStar Opioid Consortium)
NorthStar Opioid Consortium
Range Mental Health Center, Inc.
ShareHouse, Inc.
St. Joseph's Medical Center
St. Louis County District Court
St. Louis County Public Health
St. Mary's Regional Health Center Park Rapids Clinic
St. Mary's Regional Health Center Walker Clinic
University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Duluth
Well Being Development
Intended Audience
The Upper Midwest Rural Opioid Response Implementation Project serves rural communities in Southeast North Dakota, Northern Minnesota, and Northwest Wisconsin. The project targeted two rural communities for implementation of strategies to address opioid-related issues: persons living in rural Northern Minnesota’ s west region (Becker, Clearwater, and Mahnomen counties) and east region (Northern St Louis County). Each region has approximately 50,000 rural residents across several communities, with specialty care services available in urban areas (Duluth, MN and Fargo, ND).
