New Prevent Ed satellite office opening in Lincoln County

However, one agency has another option that might finally help put a dent into what has caused countless suffering for hundreds of people in the county. Prevent Ed, a nonprofit agency based in St. Louis County, is opening a satellite agency in Lincoln County in Troy, and has been awarded a three-year grant worth $1 million to reduce the number of overdose events in the area.

The grant is through the Health Resources and Services Administration for a Rural Communities Opioid Response Initiative, and Prevent Ed will be partnering with the Lincoln County Health Department, Lincoln County Ambulance District, Compass Health Network and Lincoln County Treatment Court on the ambitious project.

“(A million dollars) is a big number, but it’s not a big enough number to open up a new treatment center,” said Jenny Armbruster, Prevent Ed deputy executive director. “It is a big enough number to help start up the conversation about opioid treatment in Lincoln County, however.”

The program is based off the success of Prevent Ed’s satellite office in Krakow in Franklin County.

One of the three major objectives of the project is “increasing recovery support services through certified peer support specialists, who are people who have been successful in the long-term recovery process from substance abuse, and have specialized training with the Missouri Credentialing Board.

“We were looking for someone who could serve as a bridge from the drug courts to the treatment programs to recovery,” Armbruster said. “We started using it in Franklin County in 2020, and it took off like a rocketship.

“We some similarities between Franklin County and Lincoln County with opioid overdose, and saw a need here.”

Armbruster continued to say people struggling with opioid addiction are more likely to receive help from people he or she knows, therefore, Prevent Ed would like to draw CPS candidates from the local community.

“I want peer specialists who live in the community, or at least know this community,” she said. “In Franklin County, our peer specialists could drive around the spots and know where to find people because they knew the areas.”

Prevent Ed is currently hiring for CPS positions, among other positions. For more information, visit prevented.org.

“We’ll be hiring for a couple of positions,” Armbruster said. “We’ll be hiring a community strategist, which will be doing the project management, and up to three CPS roles.”

The two other objectives of the project are to reduce the stigma attached to opioid addiction by raising and increasing public awareness, and increasing training and education on substance use prevention, treatment and recovery efforts to local providers, educational staff, first responders and the community-at-large.

Armbruster said with the continued success of Franklin County’s efforts, she sees nothing but success in Lincoln County.

“In two years, we’ve served over 150 people in Franklin County – and it’s only going to grow for sure,” she said. “We were able to leverage more grant funding because of the success of the program here, and I think it can work in Lincoln County."