USDA announced targeted funding to combat the opioid crisis in rural Illinois this fall.

Two $150,000 grants are supporting the Jersey Community Hospital District as it expands opioid prevention, treatment and recovery clinics in Jerseyville and Roodhouse, Ill., while a loan for $34 million was awarded to Ferrell Hospital in Eldorado, Ill.

“When you talk with people in health care, employers, law enforcement and people on the judicial side, you’ll find a lot of these small rural communities are just being overwhelmed with the physical and financial challenges of trying to address the opioid crisis,” says Doug Wilson, USDA Rural Development state director.

“And it isn’t an overstatement to say that. It is a crisis,” he adds.

Jersey community
Roodhouse is about 35 miles away from Jerseyville, where the Jersey Community Hospital is based.

The two $150,000 grants from USDA are allowing the hospital to move one clinic into a bigger space in Roodhouse, which when complete in early summer 2019, will have a community meeting area as well as clinic services.

Jerseyville also has a clinic that treats drug rehabilitation, and the second grant is helping to move it into a bigger space, also set to be complete in early summer 2019. That facility will also have a community meeting area and administrative space.

“The clinics that are actually providing long-term drug abuse care — they’re unfortunately few and far between,” Wilson says.

“JCH Healthcare is focused on combating the opioid epidemic in our region,” adds Jon Wade, CEO of the hospital. “This funding will help further develop our opioid addiction services in Jersey and Greene counties as well as the neighboring communities."

Wilson says the proximity of the centers will be helpful for outreach and counseling efforts.

“Law enforcement can arrest them, or family members can commit them to trying to get treatment, but addiction doesn't disappear overnight or over a weekend. It’s something that has to be worked at,” Wilson says.

Ferrell Hospital
Ferrell Hospital has met the health needs of the Eldorado area in Illinois since 1925. Thanks to a USDA loan, its main building is getting a major remodel and addition — including a pain management clinic that will help patients avoid opioid addiction. Construction is expected to be completed in 2020.

“If you’re incarcerated, they can give you shots to wean you off your drug of choice. Prisoners get the treatment they need, but they don’t get the follow-through,” Wilson says. “That’s why you need clinics and facilities that are close enough to your areas of service and counseling, so you can make it reasonably successful.”

Identifying hot spots
Measuring the distance to the nearest treatment provider helps inform where to invest in pain management clinics in rural Illinois, but knowing where opioid misuse is occurring is also a vital piece of information.

On Oct. 4, USDA announced an opioid misuse Community Assessment Tool to help local community leaders determine where hot spots are for potential future policies and clinic proposals.

“Farms don’t operate in a vacuum. We want good health services; we want good quality of life and for kids to get a good education and stick around,” Wilson concludes. “There’s work that can be done. … We have a basket full of programs and tools to make it happen.”