Although President Trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, a local agency that deals with drug abuse says it’s continuing to worry about funding. Gail Raney is Chief Executive Officer of Prairie Center Health Systems, Inc. She says her agency has seen state support for such programs plummet. ‘’Substance abuse prevention and treatment in Illinois has been reduced by over 50-percent in their funding over the last five years. That’s huge for anything – and it wasn’t like we had a really big budget to start with,’’ said Raney. ‘’So every year we’re having to try to figure out how can we continue to get the message out — how can we continue to provide treatment services for the people that really need them – with less funding.’’
And Raney notes funding support has been dropping at a time when the services are needed more than ever. She says Prairie Center Health Systems feels blessed, though, because the state did award the agency more funding to address drug abuse prevention.
Raney says she fears more funding cuts are coming. ‘’We’re now getting word that the governor has told the different departments that they have to reduce some of their budgets. And the department that does most of our funding is the Department of Human Services – and specifically the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. And, we don’t know the specific line items yet – but we do know that mental health and substance abuse are going to get reduced again,’’ added Raney.
Raney and Rachael Blossear, Director of Prevention and Education Services for Prairie Center discussed their programs on WDAN Radio’s Newsmakers program.
