Duval County to receive first-of-its-kind opioid recovery program

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An effort by Florida leaders to tackle opioid addiction has now been expanded to Duval county.

On Tuesday, a press conference was held regarding the Coordinated Opioid Recovery (CORE) Network, a first-of-its-kind model of care currently being implemented across the state.

Duval County is one of 12 counties implementing this innovative program.

Dr. Kenneth Scheppke is the Deputy Secretary for Health with the Florida Department of Health.

“It’s high time that we recognize this disease for the lifelong, chronic, threatening relapsing disease that it is,” Scheppke said.

CORE was created to help meet people where they are.

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There are multiple local partners who are key players in the CORE Network in Duval County: Gateway Community Services, Sulzbacher Health Center, and JFRD.

This is in addition to the Department of Children and Families and Lutheran Services Florida.

Janice Gilpin is in long-term recovery and works with Gateway Community Services, a group that wants to shatter the stigma of addiction.

“I suffered for many years with that hopeless state of mind and body,” Gilpin said.

She now works with patients and wants to extend the help she received to others.

“Sometimes they just want you to listen to them and advocate for them and be that listening ear,” Gilpin said.

In 2022, over 400 Duval residents lost their lives to a drug overdose. There were over 4,300 EMS calls related to an overdose.

In 2021 there were over 8,000 reported overdose deaths in Florida, according to CORE. Since 2015, fentanyl-related overdose deaths have increased by 790 percent.

The program will start at one hospital in Duval county and from there will expand to others in the area.

“The good news is there are really good treatments for this -- really good medications that can control this,” Scheppke said. “And when combined with all the other sub-specialties that we need -- we can really get people on a good sustainable path to good health.”

According to Core: this comprehensive approach expands every aspect of overdose response and treats all primary and secondary impacts of substance use disorder. From care and peer navigators directly within an emergency department to sustainable overall health care, this structure disrupts the revolving door of addiction and overdose.

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