_{(L-R) Dr. Amy Werremeyer, Dr. Mark Strand, pharmacy student Alyssa Hodges, Dr. Jayme Steig, pharmacy student Brianna O'Gary, Dr. Heidi Eukel, Dr. Elizabeth Skoy}

The ONE Program located in the NDSU School of Pharmacy has received a $632,000 grant award through the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services distribution of federal funds. The grant will allow the Opioid and Naloxone Education Program to help expand its efforts in public and university settings.

Titled “Opioid and Naloxone Education: A State-wide Approach to Prevention, Education, and Interventions,” the grant will be used over the next year to:

• Screen patients for risk of opioid risks and provide education and interventions
• Increase naloxone access in public settings
• Conduct an environmental scan of opioid related policy in North Dakota
• Educate university students about opioid safety

The NDSU School of Pharmacy co-investigators for the grant award include:  Professor Heidi Eukel, Associate Professor Elizabeth Skoy, Assistant Professor of Practice Jayme Steig, Professor Mark Strand, and Professor and Chair Amy Werremeyer. The ONE Program works in collaboration with the NDSU Center for Collaboration and Advancement in Pharmacy. https://www.ndsu.edu/centers/cap/

“In the last two years, opioid and other substance misuse have increased in North Dakota and around the country,” said ONE Program investigator Mark Strand, PhD. “Now that we are out of the emergency phase of the COVID pandemic, it is essential that we deepen and broaden our work to prevent opioid misuse, and to increase patient safety,” said Strand, professor in the NDSU School of Pharmacy and in the NDSU Department of Public Health. He is also a member of the North Dakota State Health Council.

The ONE Program which began in 2018 in North Dakota helps pharmacists use proactive tools to make an impact on drug overdose deaths, now topping an estimated 100,000 annually in the U.S. in 2021, according to the CDC. The ONE Program has expanded to pharmacies in West Virginia and Idaho.

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