The Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance, a nonprofit network based in Tappahannock and serving Eastern Virginia including the Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck and Eastern Shore, has been awarded federal grant funds of $1 million over three years to address substance abuse problems in the region.

The goals for this grant build on the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, a multi-year federal initiative to address barriers to access in services to rural communities.

The initial projects to be addressed with these funds are to increase access to training for the use of naloxone (a medicine to reverse opioid overdose); year-round drug take back programs in pharmacies and doctor’s offices; offer screening and referral to treatment for patients with substance abuse problems, and coordinate a hub-and-spoke model of telehealth enabled access to opioid use disorder treatment through interdisciplinary teams of medical, clinical and social service providers providing medication-assisted tre...