The opioid epidemic affects everyone in our county, state and nation without regard to economic status, age, race or gender.
In 2016 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of drug overdose deaths in North Carolina increased by over 14 percent in the one-year period between 2014 and 2015.
The Hyde County Board of Commissioners is taking a leadership role in addressing the causes of this problem and to initiate local steps to intervene in these trends.
Hyde County held a leadership forum on July 13 in the Hyde County Government Center Mulitpurpose Room and in the Ocracoke Community Center via telecommunications equipment, which engaged county staff, local elected leaders, substance abuse agencies, staff and other stakeholders in an informed discussion about the opioid epidemic in an effort to develop collaborative strategies that enhance prevention, education and treatment.
The following goals were identified:
1) To create and implement a comprehensive education/prevention program;
2) To identify treatment options, identify barriers to treatment, work towards creation of more treatment
resources and methods to open treatment to those in need;
3) Support the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office in getting drug dealers off of our streets.
The next step is to have community meetings starting Aug. 22 in all five county townships to educate citizens on the signs and symptoms of opioid abuse, to share information on current treatment resources available and to gather input from our citizens in regard to this fight. This public input will be combined with the information already gathered to move forward in planning and implementing a program.
In addition, Hyde County will create a web page that contains all of these resources where citizens will be able to sign up for email updates on the progress of the group.
Hyde County’s goals will be to educate and prevent people from becoming addicted, to supply treatment resources to help people to recover from addiction and to stop illegal drug activity.
To subscribe to receive updates and all other county information, please email dshumate@hydecountync.gov and ask to be put on the Hyde Happenings distribution list.
Also, information will be posed on the Hyde County Public Information Facebook page. A list of community meetings scheduled for late August as well as educational and resource information will be distributed through our Hyde Happenings updates and through social media.
COUNTY OF HYDE
30 Oyster Creek Road
P.O. Box 188
SWAN QUARTER, NORTH CAROLINA 27885
http://www.hydecountync.gov
252-926-4400
