Explanation
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this ordinance is to appropriate $10,000 in the City’s General Fund, within the Public Safety Initiatives Subfund, to Columbus Public Health (CPH) to provide for a $20,000 contract with Equitas Health, formerly the AIDS Resource Center, to continue a partnership with CPH’s Harm Reduction Program. Columbus, along with other major cities, has been plagued by an opiate epidemic that is a crisis of unparalleled proportion, with devastating, often deadly consequences. In an effort to combat this drug problem, Columbus Public Health (CPH) has initiated a community-wide comprehensive Harm Reduction Program to address heroin and opiate use before it becomes a local epidemic similar to other communities in the state. Part of this effort includes making Naloxone readily available to heroin and opiate users in order to save lives. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, reverses the effects of overdose for opioids such as heroin, and for an even more deadly combination on the rise, heroin mixed with the powerful opiate Fentanyl. To help with this effort, the Board of Health wishes to expand its partnership with Equitas Health to provide for the procurement and distribution of Naloxone and to provide counseling services to users.
This ordinance authorizes the appropriation of $10,000 to CPH within the Public Safety Initiatives Subfund of the City’s General Fund. It also authorizes the Board of Health to enter into a contract with Equitas Health to support the City’s Harm Reduction Program in an amount not to exceed $20,000.
CONTRACT COMPLIANCE: Equitas Health (Contract Compliance No. CC004721 - expires 02/17/2018) is a not-for-profit organization and therefore exempt from Contract Compliance certification.
EMERGENCY DESIGNATION: Emergency action is requested to avoid delays in the implementation of these services.
FISCAL IMPACT: Total cost of the contract is $20,000. $10,000 for this contract is available in the 2016 budget with...
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