CELORON — Through community collaboration, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

That was the message being sent during the Combat Addiction CHQ community event held at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel in Celoron Tuesday. One of the event’s features included local county officials, who are part of the Chautauqua Substance Abuse Response Partnerships (CSARP), discussing the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) grant.

CSARP is a multi-agency partnership of prevention, treatment and recovery providers led by the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene. CSARP was established under the RCORP grant awarded to the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene. The RCORP implementation grant is a $1 million multi-year initiative supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration to address barriers to access in rural communities related to substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder.

CSARP is comprised of representatives from the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene, Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services, The Chautauqua Center, Prevention Works (formerly CASAC), Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County, Brooks-TLC Hospital System, UPMC Chautauqua, United Way of Southern Chautauqua County, Chautauqua County Health Network, The Resource Center, and Evergreen Health.

Steve Kilburn, grant director, discussed statistics that detailed the addiction epidemic in the county in recent years. He said there is an estimated 8,500 to 9,000 county residents with a substance use disorder. He said of those residents, 1,200 to 1,550 have an opioid use disorder. He added 2,800 are receiving treatment.

Kilburn had some good news about overdoses in the county. He said in 2017 there were 30 overdose deaths, which decreased by 33% to 20 in 2018. He added the progress is being made possible in reducing overdose deaths because of medications like naloxone, buprenorphine and methadone.

“These medications do save lives,” he said.

As for prevention, Kilburn didn’t have positive news of surveys done by students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades. He said in the last 30 days from the time of the survey, students indicated that they had drank alcohol or used marijuana above the national average. Also, the perception of harm of using alcohol or marijuana is lower than than the national average. He added that 17% of the students admitted to binge drinking and 15% had used marijuana in the past 30 days.

Kilburn said the grant the county received has funding available to implement a plan produced by county officials. He said the plan includes eight goals. The goals include reducing overdoses by expand naloxone use; expanding overdose mapping to all areas of the county, which police agencies assist with detailing; increase substance use disorder screenings; increase the number of medical providers that offer buprenorphine to those with opioid use disorder; enhance treatment for those at the county jail; increase the size of the workforce of those involved in addiction services; expand employment for people in addiction programs; and increase community awareness of topics like addiction prevention, treatment and recovery.

George Borrello, county executive, started the event by discussing how community agencies joining together can improve efficiencies in fighting the opioid epidemic.

“Today is another opportunity to make sure we are collaborating,” he said.