Opioid Prevention Activities | South Carolina Department of Public Health

Opioid Prevention and Families/Communities

Hold out the Lifeline, a faith-based organization, provides mental health first aid trainings and opioid education sessions to both religious and non-religious organizations.
The Nurse Family Partnership Program supports vulnerable first-time mothers throughout pregnancy and until the child’s second birthday to increase the likelihood of the mother and child being safe and reduce social and economic inequalities, including substance use.
The Strengthening Families Program is designed to help families develop positive discipline practices, stay resilient in tough times, reduce conflict, improve parenting skills, and assist children with social skills, relationships, and school performance. SFP is used as a primary prevention intervention for high-risk families without making them feel stigmatized.

Hold out the Lifeline has trained 753 people in Mental Health First Aid and has educated 1,523 individuals on opioids.
To date, 236 families have graduated from the Strengthening Families Program and 143 teens have completed the Botvin Life Skills Program
The Nurse Family Partnership Program has supported 118 new mothers and their families by providing referrals to essential services.

DPH partners with Prisma Health to educates doctors, nurses, and other providers and non-providers on pain management, optimal prescribing of opioids and use of alternative pain management techniques.
Prisma Health utilizes peer navigators, composed of peer recovery coaches and social workers, who enhance and expand linkage to care efforts for persons with substance use disorders that have been discharged from inpatient care.
Prisma Health offers health screenings to those living in rural communities via mobile health clinics. They also distribute harm reduction materials and provide linkage to care as needed.
The Division of Oral Health at DPH educates dental providers on substance use disorder and opioid prescribing guidelines.

The Prisma Health team has educated a total of 9,809 providers and non-providers in partnership with DPH since 2019. Of that, 77% were providers. In addition, Prisma trained people from 28 counties across South Carolina.
The Oral Health Division partnered with FQHC’s across the state to promote opioid overdose prevention awareness.

The Community Outreach Paramedic Education (COPE) program uses referrals from Emergency Medical Services (EMS) or hospitals to identify survivors for follow up visits by a multidisciplinary team in the critical period shortly after a Naloxone administration or overdose event. During the visit, the patient will receive educational materials and a “warm handoff” to drug treatment and peer support.
Children’s Trust trains law enforcement officers on how to prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) when working on a case with children involved.

The Community Outreach Paramedic Education (COPE) team has linked 1,928 overdose survivors to care and treatment since 2019.

DPH distributes Naloxone and Fentanyl Test Strips through the DPH county health departments. They also distribute Naloxone to hospitals and schools.
DPH EMS created the Law Enforcement Officer Naloxone (LEON) and Reduction of Opioid Loss of Life (ROLL) programs to train law enforcement and fire department agencies across South Carolina to identify, treat and report drug overdoses attributed to opioids.

The team developed policies that allows DPH health departments to hand out opioid kits for free that include both Naloxone and Fentanyl Test Strips. As of July 2024, health department staff have distributed 1,025 kits. For more information on Narcan distribution and how to get an Opioid Overdose Kit, please see the DPH Narcan Distribution and Opioid Overdose Kits webpage.

Handle With Care is a school-based trauma intervention program. If a law enforcement officer encounters a child during a call, that child’s information is forwarded to the school before the school bell rings the next day. The school implements individual, class and whole school trauma-sensitive curricula so that traumatized children are “Handled With Care". If a child needs more intervention, on-site trauma-focused mental healthcare is available at the school.

Through its partnership with SCDE, two boxes of Naloxone (each containing two doses for a total of four doses per school) were made available for pickup to every K-12 school in South Carolina who wanted it. Funds for the supply were awarded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s cooperative agreement Overdose Data-to-Action. There was no cost to the schools for the Narcan.