21 April 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Over the next 18 years, the state of Kansas will receive $190 million as part of a nationwide opioid settlement. The City of Wichita is currently using some of the funds it received to support the Safe Streets Coalition. However, some local leaders say they hope to use even more of that money to fund a juvenile medical detox center.
Wichita Vice Mayor Mike Hoheisel says the city council is pushing for an RFP (Request For Proposal) with Sedgwick County on the best way to spend their combined opioid settlement money.
“We’re looking to consolidate as many of the interested parties as possible and come up with the best bang for our buck because our options are limited,” Hoheisel said.
Hoheisel says although the total amount is still in flux, the current yearly total is $140,000. However, Harold Casey, executive director of the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas, says staffing a 15-bed medical detox program would cost roughly 10 times that amount each year.
“You’re talking $1.3 million just in cost for staffing,” Casey said. “We could use a medical detox, but it’s so much more expensive, and there’s no funding for it right now.”
Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell is also looking into options for a similar program, including a component to help juveniles with substance use disorders.
“We have people in Sedgwick County that travel to this program in Johnson County because that’s the nearest program, knowing that there’s a waiting list. I do believe that maybe, maybe 10 beds, or maybe a few more beds than that, would be appropriate for this community,” Howell said.
However, with the county’s current budget deficit, Howell says funds necessary for a juvenile program could be years away.
“To find a million dollars for a new program right now seems impossible,” Howell said.
Vice Mayor Hoheisel says backlogs in toxicology reports are also making it difficult to determine the exact need for a medical detox center.
“We actually don’t have an up-to-date answer,” Hoheisel said. “The last I saw last year was 174 fentanyl deaths in Sedgwick County, but there’s still at least 120 cases [where] we haven’t gotten the results back yet.”
Both the city and the county are looking into the possibility of public/private partnerships as well. Whether this will be a joint effort and when the city could provide an RFP has yet to be determined.