CHI Grant Work Expands Naloxone Access, Strengthens Rural Resources
With continued support from HRSA, SWACH’s Community Health Improvement team is working to make overdose prevention resources and other supports more accessible in rural communities. By strengthening local partnerships, we are helping connect people with resources where they live. Over the past several months, SWACH’s Community Health Improvement team has expanded access to naloxone in rural communities, particularly in areas where prevention resources can be harder to reach. HRSA funding has supported the purchase of naloxone and other prevention supplies, along with four new outdoor kiosks that will provide low-barrier access to naloxone in the communities they serve.
The first new kiosk is moving forward outside the Lyle Lions Club in Klickitat County, with a second kiosk, Klickitat County location nearing completion. These locations are part of a broader effort to make lifesaving overdose prevention resources more readily available in rural communities.
For Ashely Gaffney, the Director of Community Health Improvement, the Lyle kiosk represents an important step toward reaching people in high-risk rural areas.
“I think especially because we’re looking at some of the most at-risk communities that don’t have any access,” Gaffney said. “Especially with Lyle, I think that’s going to be one of our biggest accomplishments.”
Outdoor kiosks provide a private, low-barrier way for people in need to access naloxone in familiar community spaces. This can be especially important in rural communities, where limited resources and concerns about stigma or judgment may make it harder for people to seek support.
“It’s really expanding access in multiple ways by it being outdoors,” Gaffney said. “People do not have to talk to or go indoors, where there could potentially be the fear of judgment, especially in a small rural community.”
The kiosk work also builds on CHI’s broader naloxone distribution efforts across Southwest Washington. Existing vending machine sites have helped increase access to overdose prevention supplies, and the new kiosks create another option for communities where a vending machine may not be feasible.
In addition to naloxone access, CHI is also continuing work on the Rural Community Asset Map and the SUD Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Resource Guide. Gaffney said the resource guide was developed with an emphasis on substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery, while the asset map helps make those resources easier to find and connect to.
The asset map launched as a first version in November, and Gaffney said the next phase is about continuing to improve it with community input.
“Asset maps are meant to be iterative,” Gaffney said. “It’s continuing to raise awareness and involve the community in co-creating the map.”
Survey feedback will help guide that next stage. Gaffney said many people first learned about the map through community information sessions, which showed that CHI’s outreach efforts are helping raise awareness. Some respondents also shared that they learned about resources they didn’t know existed, even after living in the community for many years.
Moving forward, CHI hopes to shift from community engagement in the map to community ownership by involving community members and community-based organizations that expressed interest in contributing. That could include sharing survey feedback with contributors and inviting them into decisions about how the map should improve over time.
Gaffney said this work is also connected to future community-based care coordination efforts. Although the HRSA grant is nearing its end, the work will continue through other funding, including the Carelon Substance Use Block Grant. CHI plans to keep supporting rural communities while also expanding community-based care coordination services to Clark County vending machine sites.
“We’re using that funding to continue the work in our rural communities but also expanding community-based care coordination services to Clark County,” Gaffney said.
As SWACH and partners prepare for upcoming Medicaid and SNAP changes, Gaffney said the asset map may also become a useful tool for helping community members find support related to those needs.
“The biggest thing is highlighting the work with the asset map, the expansion of naloxone through kiosks, and looking forward, expanding community-based care coordination services and support for people who will be impacted by the Medicaid changes,” Gaffney said.
Together, these efforts reflect a commitment to bringing resources closer to where people live. By expanding naloxone access and working alongside local partners, SWACH is strengthening the network of prevention, care, and support available to rural communities across Southwest Washington.