(The Center Square) – Spokane County is considering expanding its opioid response by $650,000 after one program recently saw a roughly 85% success rate for transitioning people into inpatient treatment.
Justin Johnson, director of the Community Services Department, briefed the Board of County Commissioners on Monday regarding last year’s progress. His opioid priorities update highlighted key investments as the region reassesses its needs moving forward.
The county funds a few “opioid projects,” such as Maddie’s Place, to provide housing support for caregivers of babies with neonatal alcohol syndrome; Spokane Treatment & Recovery Services, or STARS, which provides various services; and the Spokane Regional Stabilization Center.
Opioid settlement funds allow the county to continue prioritizing these with support from other revenue sources. Johnson said his department hopes to spend 2025 expanding STARS, the regional stabilization center and opioid use disorder services with the regional health district.
“In about a month, [STARS] served 81 unique individuals in their sobering center,” Jessica Thompson, a facilitator with the County Opioid Abatement Council, told the board. “And 85% to 90% of those individuals have transitioned into further inpatient services.”
Thanks to a $600,000 contract with the county this fall, Maddie’s Place expanded into a property next door. Another $1.2 million contract allowed STARS to open its sobering and triage center in December; however, Johnson believes further investment could prove even more successful.
The stabilization center will also receive capital improvements after Spokane Valley recently contributed $40,000 to its upgrades and ongoing operations. Johnson said it’s one of the places people go after the sobering and triage center, so freeing up STARS could make it more useful.
He said STARS offers around 300 services at any given time, which is both beneficial and challenging. He wants to leverage STARS with other services that the Spokane Regional Health District, or SRHD, provides to free up STARS while getting more people through treatment.
“That’s huge,” Commissioner Amber Waldref said, “80, 90% of people go into treatment.”
Johnson said it takes a while to get started, but things move quickly once the train is chugging. There are also a lot of people to treat. According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, more than 2,000 homeless individuals live across the county and roughly 38% report substance use.
The SRHD’s hours are a barrier to many, but Johnson said another $400,000 could change that.
He wants to use that money to expand the district’s hours and opioid use disorder services. If approved, the $400,000 could allow the SHRD to offer same-day appointments, walk-ins, “first dosing,” and first responder drop-offs. He also wants to put another $250,000 toward STARS.
Johnson said the additional $250,000 would keep its sobering center operating at the same level while adding six beds to match the dozen triage chairs available, bringing the total capacity to 24.
Bolstering the SRHD while increasing the number of beds at STARS creates a revolving door, freeing up space in the system to funnel more people through treatment. Johnson painted the $650,000 request for both priorities as a first step, hoping the board will expand it further.
“That could be 20 to 30 more [people each month],” Johnson said, “that could be diverted away from involvement with law enforcement, having an overdose or going into the [emergency department.]”
