County to buy anti-overdose vending machine

Ozaukee County supervisors voted Tuesday to purchase and install a vending machine to dispense supplies to help prevent drug overdoses.

The Health and Human Services Committee approved a request from the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department to spend $7,635 to install the vending machine at the Mequon Health Center in Mequon and supply it with naloxone, fentanyl test strips and other health and safety materials, which would be distributed for free, according to a memo to the committee from Public Health Director Kim Buechler.

“The vending machine will expand public access to overdose prevention and harm

reduction supplies,” she said.

Naloxone is a medication that reverses opioid overdoses by blocking the effects of opioids in the brain. It is commonly sold under brand names like Narcan. It is easy to administer and has no effect on people who do not have opioids in their system.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid used for severe pain management and is often used illegally as a recreational drug. Due to its extreme potency, even small amounts can prove lethal.

A vending machine has already been installed in West Bend, and the supplies also are available at the Ozaukee Nonprofit Center in Grafton.

The purchase and installation of the “harm reduction vending machine” is the latest step to combat what officials say is a drug and mental health crisis in Ozaukee County.

“This purchase represents a one-time investment intended to improve access to lifesaving resources through a low-barrier and stigma-reducing approach while supporting the county’s broader opioid abatement efforts,” Buechler said in her memo.

It’s also the latest use of the Ozaukee County Opioid Settlement Special Revenue

Fund, money secured in 2021 from a legal settlement with drug companies and retailers who, according to court documents, “flooded the market with highly addictive drugs claiming they were safe and efficacious for long-term use.”

The county currently has about $1.7 million in opioid settlement funds available, with a total allocation of $3.8 million expected through 2038.

Those funds must be used for opioid harm reduction and treatment expansion.

About $225,000 of those funds are being used this year to fund two “co-responder” teams, specially trained sheriff’s deputies and county social workers who respond to crisis events where substance use or mental illness are factors.

Wisconsin’s share of the settlement funds is more than $780 million through 2038, with 70% of the proceeds being allocated to 87 local governments that participated in the litigation.

The county also has committed $600,000 of those funds toward establishing a day treatment center for those dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues.

Health Services Director Kimberly Falkner told HHS Committee members Tuesday that the center will be open by the end of the year, perhaps as soon as October.

The county has hired Michael T. Churchwell, a psychiatrist, to lead the center. He will begin work in July, Falkner said.

Meanwhile, the center needs to be accredited by the state. Once that happens, Falkner’s office can begin hiring other staff for the center, including a case manager, a behavioral health manager and an occupational therapist.

It would be located in the Health Services office in the County Administration Building in downtown Port Washington.

Officials estimate a county-run day treatment program could help as many as 300 people annually who suffer from mental health or addiction issues.

The program would be the first of its kind in the county and the only one regionally outside of Milwaukee with no such facility in Washington, Sheboygan or Manitowoc counties, Falkner said.

Intermediate care provides short-term, supportive services for people needing more help than they can get at home but not full hospital care.

The program would operate five days per week, serving as many as 16 clients per day,  provide integrated treatment for serious mental illness and substance use and provide a ready treatment solution for individuals in crisis, reducing the need for voluntary and involuntary commitments, Falkner said.

The county’s share of the staff salaries would total $661,168 per year, not counting costs for equipment, furniture and supplies, officials say.

Clients would pay for services through Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance.