Rural Project Examples from FORHP Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)

Updated/reviewed November 2022

Need: To properly address and treat patients who have concurrent substance use and chronic healthcare issues.
Intervention: A referral system utilizes community health workers (CHWs) in a drug and alcohol treatment setting. A registered nurse helps with providers' medication-assisted treatment programs.
Results: This program has reduced hospital emergency visits and hospital readmissions for patients since its inception.

Added March 2024

Need: Enhanced support for people with substance use disorders leaving jail and reentering communities in rural northeastern Kentucky.
Intervention: A reentry program that uses peer support specialists to teach cognitive life skills, obtain essential identification documents, and help people create and follow personalized case plans before and after their release.
Results: More than 420 people have been served by First Day Forward, with recidivism rates significantly lower among people who successfully completed the program.

Added November 2023

Need: To help people who use drugs and their families access treatment and counseling in rural Missouri.
Intervention: The CMH Addiction Recovery Program provides medication-assisted treatment, counseling, peer and family support, and other related services through a Rural Health Clinic.
Results: The program operates 5 days a week and sees 400 patients each month.

Added October 2023

Need: To support pregnant and parenting women with a history of substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders in rural areas of Montana.
Intervention: One Health, a consortium of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), developed a team of "recovery doulas" – individuals who are dual-certified as doulas and peer-support specialists. The One Health recovery doula program offers group and individual services to women and their partners from pregnancy through the first years of parenthood.
Results: A team of nine recovery doulas (or doulas-in-training) employed by One Health offer services in ten rural Montana counties. Recovery doulas have provided essential support to women with substance use disorder, survivors of sexual abuse, unhoused individuals, and individuals facing other complex challenges.

Updated/reviewed August 2020

Need: Growing concern in rural Colorado communities regarding prescription and illegal opioid overdoses.
Intervention: Education efforts for health workers and the larger community, in addition to establishing a naloxone overdose reversal drug program.
Results: In addition to continuing to train nearly all first responders to administer naloxone, the organization provides harm reduction education in various community settings.

Promising Examples