Population Health Sciences – �鶹��Ƶ

Improving Rural Transportation in Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:38:20 +0000

This project was developed as part of the UniverCity Year, a partnership between the Green County
Economic Development Corporation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Green County Healthy Community Coalition determined that transportation presents a significant
challenge for many residents in Green County in accessing medical care, grocery stores, and other
services. In consultation with RoAnn Warden, Director of the Green County Health Department, and
based on the content of our initial literature review, we decided to present a menu of options focused
on transportation for low-income families. After beginning with broad research on the topic, we
narrowed our work down to three detailed options from which Green County can consider for
implementation. Our intention was to present realistic, affordable options that can reduce inequities in
transportation access. We additionally suggest possible funding sources for each of the options. We
hope this report can assist Green County in selecting an evidence-based community intervention to
improve rural transportation access.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Pregnancy: A Program for Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:36:46 +0000

Similar to state and national trends, evidence in Green County, Wisconsin suggests that
there is an increase in opioid use within the pregnant population leading to opioid use disorder
(OUD). Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is a recommended best practice for the care of
pregnant women to stop and prevent opioid withdrawal and improve infant and maternal
outcomes (SAMHSA, 2014). Significant barriers to MAT are noted in Green County as there are
a total of two prescribing providers in the area and neither provide services to pregnant
women. Mothers who are enrolled in MAT are forced to receive care 35-45 miles outside of
Green County in Beloit or Madison, Wisconsin. Further transportation demands and financial
constraints put patients at risk for missed doses, relapse, and drug overdose. To increase access
to MAT, our goal is to increase the number of prescribing physicians in Green County by
providing education on evidence-based interventions for OUD, outlining the MAT certification
process, and providing information on disparities within the county.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Health Care Improvement in Low Resource Settings

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:36:35 +0000

Program goal: Provide psychosocial rehabilitation for adults or children with a mental health and/or substance abuse diagnosis * For Medicaid eligible individuals * Began in Dane County in 2015. Now serving 600+ clients * Intake new clients ~40/month * Open provider networks, services provided by 75 agencies * Recovery-oriented – support clients in meeting recovery goals intended to increase independence and decrease reliance on formal supports

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Lori DiPrete Brown
Population Health Sciences

dipretebrown@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact
Lila Walsh

County Clerk Administrator
walsh.lila@countyofdane.com

Data Sharing to Combat the Opioid Crisis in Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:36:27 +0000

Opioid Crisis in Green County
The Healthy Community Coalition of Green County, WI, has identified reducing substance
abuse as a high priority goal (Green County, 2018). Opioid use in particular is concerning;
Wisconsin as a whole is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic driven by opioids (Wisconsin
DHS, 2017). Between 2013-2015, Green County had 7 overdose deaths involving opioids with a
rate of 6.3 opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 persons.
There has been a ten-fold rise in Green Country hospital encounters involving opioids since 2006
(Wisconsin DHS, 2017). Compared to other Wisconsin counties in 2014, Green County is in the
highest quintile for rates of hospitalizations involving opioids in general (58.7 hospitalizations
per 100,000 persons), opioid prescriptions (40.6 hospitalizations per 100,000 persons), and
heroin poisonings (13.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 persons). Between 2011 and 2015,
ambulance runs in Green County where Naloxone was administered has more than doubled, and
rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome has steeply increased. Additionally, the number of Green
County residents seeking opioid treatment by the Department of Human Services has tripled in
recent years (Gibson, 2018).
The Need for Data Sharing
There are multiple stakeholders involved in the opioid epidemic, including law enforcement,
courts, jails, healthcare, and emergency medical services (EMS). Each of these stakeholders’
perspective is crucial to understanding the broad factors contributing to and driving this opioid
use. In Green County, community partners are motivated to address this opioid use, but each
stakeholder only has access to part of the data. Community partners must be able to effectively
communicate these views, as well as data related to opioids, to develop appropriate solutions.
Currently, Green County stakeholders rely on data from the Department of Health Services for
opioid-related health outcomes. This data is often outdated by several years, which leads to
delays in fully understanding this rapidly evolving epidemic and makes it difficult to achieve
adequate funding and implement programs.
To combat this issue, Green County hopes to develop a platform that will allow for opioidrelated data to be shared between agencies. Community partners would update the platform
regularly so the data remains relevant and easily accessible. Access to a diverse set of data would
improve understanding of local opioid use, help develop policy recommendations to address
opioid use, and be a key component of grant application processes, which in turn will provide
opportunities to increase funding for opioid related programs in Green County. It is hoped that
this data sharing initiative would also increase collaboration between stakeholders and facilitate
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development of mutual strategies and goals. Overall, this would facilitate a better informed and
more efficient approach to the opioid crisis in Green County.
The goal of our project was to create a plan and timeline for the development of a data sharing
platform in Green County by analyzing examples and best practices of data sharing initiatives.
Below, we have provided community stakeholders with detailed information on appropriate
methods for data collection and management, as well as opioid-related metrics to consider
including. Our timeline will consist of short, medium, and long-term goals for the community to
work towards in addressing the issue of data sharing for opioid use.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Improving Access, Connecting Patients, and Reducing Stigma: A Mental Health Navigator for Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:35:54 +0000

Green County Human Services proposed the creation of a mental health navigator
(MHN) position to address the community need for improved connection to mental health
resources. In this report we provide a brief literature review of the public health significance of
this topic generally and in the context of Green County. We discuss relevant community
partnerships and collaborations which will be essential to the success of this program. Next, we
discuss issues of health equity as they pertain to the MHN program, with particular attention to
issues of access around transportation and language. We then explore the evidence base for a
navigator program in the context of mental health, discussing findings from publications as well
as interviews with other mental health navigator programs to provide rationale for this choice
and important contextual features for implementation. We go on to describe an action plan for
thoughtful implementation of this program. We offer a variety of suggestions for evaluation of
this program to determine its success and short, medium, and long-term impacts. Finally, we
include several potential funding opportunities.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Teen Intervene Toolkit

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:35:15 +0000

Based on an initial community assessment and literature review of Teen Intervene and Brief Interventions, a toolkit and video were created to improve implementation of Teen Intervene in Green County. The toolkit includes elements which can be used to educate referral sources, collect program data, and grow the program to its full potential.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Increasing Breastfeeding Rates in Green County: A Media Communications Campaign

Victor Manzanilla — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 23:26:58 +0000

The Green County Health Department and the Green County Breastfeeding collaborative have made a commitment to increasing breastfeeding rates by 2019 through a wide variety of strategies. In 2016, Green County identified the need to “develop a comprehensive breastfeeding resource with a mainstream message that can be disseminated to the community by 2017” (Green County Healthy Community Coalition, 2016). The following report shares evidence-based suggestions of ways to implement this intervention through media, website communications, and community partnerships, including goals for the intervention and suggested evaluation methods.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Identifying Opportunities for Outpatient Opioid Detoxification in Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 23:26:02 +0000

Opioid addiction and management of addiction is an emerging issue in the United States,
as well as in Green County, WI. Inpatient treatment facilities are traditionally the favored
approach to opioid addiction management, partially due to the ability to directly supervise
treatment. However, inpatient treatment can be expensive, due to staffing, operations, and
facility maintenance costs. Green County has been able to utilize inpatient facilities located in
other counties throughout the state due to grant funding. Since this funding is expected to be
discontinued, it is imperative that a lower cost alternative to treatment be made available to the
community. An ambulatory detoxification program or other outpatient treatment program may
allow the community to provide addiction management services without the expense of
transporting patients to other counties and paying for their inpatient programs. In this report, we
describe a potential approach to building an outpatient opioid addiction management program
using primarily existing community resources, with the goal of providing lower-cost, evidencebased opioid addiction management in Green County.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Increasing Bystander Naloxone Distribution and Training for Prevention of Opiod Overdoses in Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 23:25:37 +0000

Green County Health Services Department’s (GCHSD) Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse (AODA) unit
is committed to helping individuals in their community fight chemical dependencies and
substance abuse through primary treatment services, recovery, prevention, emergency care,
and the dissemination of information on addiction. In 2018, GCHSD AODA recognizes that there
is capacity to improve the resources for managing opioid-related overdoses (ODs) in their
community through the distribution of naloxone kits. Our proposed interventions will seek to
address this issue by increasing access to bystander naloxone as well as providing brief
educational trainings to potential carriers on the recognition of signs of OD, the appropriate
response to OD, and the proper administration of naloxone.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact

Addressing Food Deserts in Green County

Victor Manzanilla — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 23:25:33 +0000

Food and nutrition insecurity impact people across the world, including populations in both
urban and rural areas of the United States. Food insecurity and its dimensions – access,
availability, utilization and stability – often impact low-income, minority, or geographically
isolated populations. Yet the issue remains invisible due to the distance many people have from
this insecurity. Working with the Food and Nutrition sub-committee of the Green County
Healthy Communities Coalition (GCHCC), we have developed the following proposal to address
food and nutrition insecurity in Green County, Wisconsin, and outline the strategies, actions, and
evaluations necessary to successfully implement a mobile market to reduce the issue of
insecurity in the region.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Barbara Duerst
Population Health Sciences

barbara.duerst@wisc.edu

Local Government / Community Contact