While the opioid crisis knows no demographic boundaries, underserved adults in rural areas often face additional challenges and risk factors, such as isolation and unemployment.
Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, MiSUPER is a two-year collaborative project from MSU Extension, the MSU College of Human Medicine Family Medicine (MSU-CHM) and the Health Department of Northwest Michigan (HDNW). The overall goal of the MiSUPER project is to increase awareness of opioid misuse in rural communities regarding prevention, addiction treatment options, and recovery support so that community members and healthcare professionals can recognize signs of misuse, suggest options for professional treatments and support those in recovery.
The project aims to create and deliver evidence-based trainings on opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery, ultimately reaching 1,000 rural community members through 25 trainings and 150 health professionals through an additional 10 trainings. Through MiSUPER, MSU Extension will help develop standardized state-of-the-art trainings and print and online materials addressing the epidemic of opioid use disorders in rural Michigan.
MiSUPER brings together highly skilled experts in OUD-related issues and rural health on the medical side with community-based professionals charged with addressing the clinical and social impacts from such use. The project builds on MSU Extension’s current rural opioid misuse prevention educational initiatives through the State Opioid Response and includes new staff and different outreach approaches to expand the focus to include treatment options and recovery.
In Michigan . . .
7
people die every day from opioid overdose.
75%
of Michigan's overdose deaths are attributable to opioids.
1,689
people died from opioid-related causes in 2016.