Blair Drug and Alcohol Partnerships (BDAP) and their partners have continued to expand the work started through the Alcohol and Other Drugs Work Group which focuses on the physical health partnerships in our community.
Their first major project was the implementation of SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) which includes substance abuse as an area screened during routine healthcare. Since initiation of the SBIRT: Empower 3 Clinic, Pregnancy Care Clinic, and AFP have conducted over 60,843, over 3,,439 brief interventions, and 930 patients were referred to treatment (drug/alcohol and mental health). Seven pharmacies in Blair County have implemented the program. There have been 3,500 screenings and 40 brief interventions. Finally, BDAP received a federal grant to provide SBIRT training and Stigma Reduction/Addiction training to emergency responders. 78 EMS responders from AMED and Hollidaysburg and 63 police officers from Altoona and Logan Township were trained. So far, 2,059 patients were screened by EMS.
There is now a 24/7 day warm handoff from hospital emergency departments for substance use disorders. There have been 994 warm handoff contacts with 544 individuals accepting referral to treatment. 300 clients attended their first treatment episode.
Training is provided to Pregnancy Care Units on identification and referral of pregnant substance abusing moms and moms to be.
