The ONE Program began in 2018 in North Dakota. It helps pharmacists use proactive tools to make an impact on drug overdose deaths.
The ONE Program, an opioid harm prevention program through NDSU’s School of Pharmacy, has recently received a $500,000 grant award through the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services distribution of federal funds. The grant will support opioid harm reduction efforts across North Dakota and can be renewed annually for three years.
Titled “Opioid and Naloxone Education: A Statewide Approach to Opioid Harm Prevention,” the grant will be used over the next year to:
- Screen patients for risk of opioid risks and provide education and interventions in 75 community pharmacies across North Dakota
- Increase naloxone access in public settings and on campuses across the state
- Educate university and college students in North Dakota about opioid safety
- Enhance medication safety and opioid harm reduction efforts to patients through home health nursing, community paramedics, and for people who are incarcerated
- Establish safe and convenient dispensing of medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder
Over the past six years, the ONE Program has been funded through the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. Pilot funding was provided by various state and local agencies and foundations.
“We are thankful to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services for their continued financial support and for the connections they continue to make among all entities who are working to curb the opioid crisis,” said Heidi Eukel, NDSU professor of pharmacy practice. “Through their guidance and endeavors, researchers, local public health units, employers, schools, pharmacies, nursing, community paramedics and others are joining together to prevent opioid harm to our communities.”
The NDSU School of Pharmacy co-investigators for the grant award include Eukel; Elizabeth Skoy, professor of pharmacy practice; Jayme Steig, assistant professor of practice; Mark Strand, professor of pharmacy practice; and Amy Werremeyer, professor and chair of pharmacy practice, along with Lisa Nagel, director of operations for the NDSU Center for Collaboration and Advancement in Pharmacy, and Oliver Frenzel, ONE Program pharmacist.
The ONE Program began in 2018 in North Dakota. It helps pharmacists use proactive tools to make an impact on drug overdose deaths. The ONE Program has expanded to pharmacies in West Virginia, Idaho and a pilot in Minnesota. The ONE Program also includes the provision of opioid risk reduction efforts to home health programs, correctional facilities, North Dakota colleges and universities, collaborations with local public health units and evidence-based data collection and dissemination.
“It has been so rewarding to see a program, which was born as a pharmacy-based initiative, blossom into a program which spans our state, other healthcare and public health disciplines, and truly targets the needs that are greatest for our state,” Eukel said. “To see other states like West Virginia adopt a program that was built in North Dakota is a testament to the value it brings to our communities.”
