The Wichita City Council and the Sedgwick County Commission have approved the hiring of a Denver consulting firm to help create a strategic plan for the use of funding from a national settlement with opioid manufacturers.
A joint city-county committee looked at bids from 11 firms and chose The Steadman Group to help develop a plan by the end of 2024. The city and county will split the $133,110 cost of the contract with the firm.
The city and county will work on a plan to provide programs and services that will help prevent, treat and maintain long-term recovery from opioid use disorder in the community. Wichita and Sedgwick County have each received just over $1 million so far from a national settlement with several opioid manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson and McKesson. The $26 billion settlement will help bring resources to communities across the U.S. that have been affected by the opioid epidemic.
Wichita and Sedgwick County officials decided to pool the money they will receive from the settlement to get the best and most effective use of the funding. The city expects to receive about $7.9 million over the lifetime of the settlement, which will be about 13 years.
[ photo credit: Reuters ]
