Eau Claire Health Officials Highlight Harm Reduction Programs

Eau Claire City-County Health Department officials are highlighting available harm reduction resources as they combat the opioid epidemic.

According to Wisconsin Department of Health Services data, the rate of opioid-related hospitalizations spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic but has dropped over the last couple of years. Prevention and harm reductions efforts have been a key factor in those improvements.

One of those prevention efforts is the national Drug Take Back Day event held twice each year. The event gives people across the country a chance to safely dispose of their unwanted or unneeded medications. The goal is to reduce the risk of people developing substance abuse disorders.

Despite having a smaller population than other states, Wisconsin has been a major contributor to drug take back days. Sarah Dillivan-Pospisil is a public health specialist for the Eau Claire City-County Health Department, and highlighted the local contributions to the events this year.

“Wisconsin typically is number one in collecting the most mediation,” she said. “This past fall we collected over 53,000 pounds. But from Eau Claire County specifically, we contributed over 1,000 pounds of medication. So between the events in April and October we have provided about 2,000 pounds of medication specifically from Eau Claire County.”

Another aspect of combatting the opioid epidemic is harm reduction. Over the last few years, municipalities across the state have started to introduce harm reduction vending machines, carrying items like Narcan and fentanyl test strips to help prevent overdoses.

One of the vending machines was installed in the Eau Claire County jail lobby in June of 2023. Dillivan-Pospisil says the machine has dispensed over 2,000 boxes of Narcan and over 1,000 fentanyl test strips. She also highlighted how importance of making those resources available for anybody 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

“We don’t know who’s impacted right, it could be someone within your household, your family, or your friend,” she said. “So many people within our community are directly and indirectly impacted by the opioid epidemic that’s currently happening. So if we can get more of these resources out and community members know where to find them, our goal is to save lives and to create a safer community.”

Some of the harm reduction vending machine funding comes from lawsuit settlements against opioid manufacturers. Eau Claire County should receive about $5 million of opioid settlement funding through 2038. According to Dillivan-Pospisil, a community survey showed residents want that funding to go towards prevention, harm reduction, and recovery programs.