Welcome Statement
Welcome to the official website of the Butte-Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition!
In the United States, preventable deaths from drug overdoses have been steadily increasing over the past twenty years. Most of these deaths are the result of opioid use disorder, a socially stigmatized but treatable medical condition developed by many Americans from all walks of life.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were over 81,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States from 2019 to 2020. This is the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a single year and was largely the result of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl. In Butte County, there were 12 opioid-related deaths in 2019 alone.
The Butte-Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition believes that every life lost to opioid use disorder is a heartbreaking and preventable tragedy. We are dedicated to saving the lives of Butte and Glenn County residents by providing resources and support for organizations and individuals helping to contribute to the common struggle against this treatable medical condition.
About the Butte Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition
The Butte-Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition (BGOSC) was founded in 2013 by the Butte-Glenn Medical Society as a collaborative workgroup dedicated to eliminating preventable opioid-related deaths in both Butte and Glenn Counties by improving interpersonal cooperation and resource-sharing between local organizations and individuals that are already working to help residents overcome their struggle with opioid use disorder.
Since our founding, our Coalition has developed into a regional leader in this fight and we are always striving to improve our efforts to prevent opioid-related tragedies and increase the overall quality of life in Butte and Glenn Counties. We are determined to build a world in which no one will die from opioid use disorder or feel ashamed to seek the medical help they need to survive and overcome it.
To do this, the Coalition is strategically planning projects on an ongoing basis to decrease opioid prescription rates within the two counties and reduce opioid-related deaths among county residents. In the past, we’ve helped advocate for the implementation of Safe Prescribing Guidelines, distributed naloxone (Narcan) to medical providers and at-risk community members, and hosted educational events for the medical community and the general public.
We believe that a community is strongest when it stands together and we are proud to partner with other organizations in joint projects toward a common goal. We have previously worked with everyone from doctors to police officers and we continue to collaborate with other coalitions like Butte Youth NOW and the Glenn County Alliance for Prevention to improve our ability to reach our community members.
We’re making major progress in this fight, but we can’t win the battle against opioid use disorder alone. Have you considered how much you can do to help improve your county and save someone’s life? Join the Butte-Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition today!
Meet Sheetal Chowdary, DO! Sheetal is working toward her MPH in New York while also supporting the Butten Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition remotely as a VISTA Associate. Sheetal just started as the VISTA in August and is already making an impact by sharing screening tools for youth such as CRAFFT.org. The Butte Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition meets virtually every second Thursday of the month. Sheetal supports the Coalition's meetings and communications. She is also interested in learning more about Healthy Rural California's proposed GME programs.
Welcome, Sheetal!
Our Accomplishments
From our founding to the present day, our Coalition has always been determined to make a real impact in the fight against opioid use disorder in Butte and Glenn County. We began receiving grant funds in 2015 from the State of California in order to improve our project capacity and we have continued to receive additional state funding every year since. Earlier this year, we clarified the administrative structure of our Coalition and added two seats to our Executive Committee. These changes will greatly improve our ability to identify our key organizational goals for the future and help our members engage in successful collaborative projects to achieve them. We are determined to establish closer relationships with our existing members and establish strong personal connections with future members as well.
Our most recent accomplishments as a Coalition came from our participation in the Accelerator 2.0 program created by the California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN), a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing overdoses in California by creating local coalitions in each county to stand up against substance use. The Accelerator 2.0 program focused on improving communication and collaboration between the members of each coalition in the program. Our Coalition’s successes and challenges can be explored through the COPN Butte-Glenn Dashboard provided below.
In 2020, the Butte County Public Health Department released the official data analysis of the opioid prescription rates, emergency department visits, overdose deaths, and hospitalizations within Butte County for the year 2018. The following data discussed only pertains to the opioid prevention initiative specifically within Butte County.
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In 2018, there were a total of 17 opioid-related deaths within Butte County. Through comparison with prior overdose death data, this number indicates that the annual crude mortality rate during that calendar year was 7.35 per 100,000 residents. |
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In 2016, the recorded annual crude opioid prescribing rate within Butte County was 1029.28 per 1,000 residents. |
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Another huge step in preventing opioid-related deaths has been increasing the total of DEA "x-waivered" physicians within the two counties. |
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Our History
Our Coalition Members
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Healthy Rural
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Our Executive Committee Members
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Kristy Bird-Makieve, Executive Director of Butte Glenn Medical Society and CEO of Healthy Rural California, Inc. 501c3 |
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Monica Soderstrom, Division Director of Butte County Public Health |
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Our Administrative Structure
Residents of Butte and Glenn Counties: The Butte-Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition was founded and organized around meeting the needs of Butte and Glenn County residents in their struggle to overcome opioid use disorder. Improving their general well-being is our strongest core value and their position in our administrative structure reflects that important consideration. Residents of the two counties who wish to directly participate in the Coalition’s goals and activities are welcome and highly encouraged to join our General Committee.
Coalition Chairperson: The Coalition Chairperson is the primary executive officer of our Coalition. They are responsible for convening and facilitating General Committee meetings, helping the General Committee establish goals for the Coalition’s activities, and assigning Executive Committee members to specific tasks to meet those goals. They also help the General Committee establish the rules and guidelines through which the Coalition operates, serve as the official public representative and chief fundraiser of the Coalition and convene educational conferences for a broad range of stakeholders. This position is currently seeking applications for a new candidate.
Medical Co-Chairperson:
The Medical Co-Chairperson is the secondary executive officer of the Coalition. This position is always held by an actively practicing physician and is responsible for serving as the Coalition’s primary outreach officer to the medical community within Butte and Glenn Counties. They lead the Coalition’s Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) physicians’ workgroup, conduct academic detailing to physicians regarding current best practices for prescribing opioids, provide advice to the Executive Committee regarding all medically-related items, collaborate with the Public Health Departments in both Butte and Glenn Counties, as well as all other medically-related duties assigned to them by the Executive Committee. This position is currently seeking applications for a new candidate.
Accelerator Committee: The Accelerator Committee is composed of Coalition members who are jointly participating in the Accelerator 2.0 grant project created by the California Overdose Prevention Network (COPN). The purpose of the Accelerator Committee is to attend project meetings and work on improving collaboration efforts between Coalition members themselves and between the Butte-Glenn Coalition and other opioid safety coalitions within California.
Executive Committee: The Executive Committee is the core executive body within the Coalition. Members are responsible for undertaking specific tasks assigned by the Executive Chairperson or by member consensus to meet broader Coalition goals established by the General Committee. The Executive Committee provides the general governance for the Coalition and holds separate meetings from the General Committee.
Lead Coordinator: The Lead Coordinator assists the Executive Committee in managing the day-to-day governance of the Coalition and serves as a liaison between the Executive Committee and the General Committee. They are responsible for collecting and disseminating relevant information to Coalition members, coordinating meetings of both the General Committee and Executive Committee, conducting research on potential Coalition projects and fundraising opportunities, assisting Executive Committee members in fulfilling their assigned project tasks, serving as the primary point of contact for members of the general public and all other duties assigned by the Executive Committee.
General Committee: The General Committee of the Butte-Glenn Opioid Safety Coalition is composed of all individuals and organizations who wish to participate in the Coalition. Public agencies, non-profit organizations, private companies, and individual residents of Butte and Glenn Counties are all welcome and encouraged to join the General Committee. The General Committee establishes the overall goals of the Coalition, shares members experiences and advice with each other, promotes events and educational opportunities that members may want to participate in, and serves as a community forum to generally support closer cooperation of all members towards combating opioid use disorder in Butte and Glenn Counties.
With our new Executive Governance structure, our coalition has been able to identify future projects of focus and goals for the future. Having clearly identified leadership enables our coalition to strategically break down these projects into manageable steps, which will support short-term and long terms goals in a more focused way. Our team is also working towards expanding a network of resources and communication to be used by coalitions that face similar challenges in other rural areas outside of our community.
External Resources
California Opioid Dashboard: The public has the ability to view all data related to opioids in Butte County and Glenn County through the California Opioid Dashboard. You can also view opioid-related data for any other county in California.https://skylab.cdph.ca.gov/ODdash/
Butte Youth Now Website: The coalition is a gathering of community leaders, stakeholders, and youth who convene to strategize solutions and make commitments to support prevention efforts aimed at reducing alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and violence in all communities and cultures throughout Butte County.
https://butteyouthnow.org/butte-youth-now/
Glenn County Alliance for Prevention: The Glenn County Alliance for Prevention (GCAP) coalition is a standing committee of community members working together to support a safe, healthy, and substance-free community for all. Subcommittees focus on marijuana/tobacco and opioids.
https://www.facebook.com/GCAPcoalition/