Overton County Receives Grant to Fight Opioid Crisis

The United States Department of Agriculture awarded grant funding to six Tennessee counties – including Overton County – in an effort to fight the nation’s opioid crisis.

Overton County Executive Ben Danner said he’s excited they were chosen to receive the grant worth $41,500.

“That’ll help us get new ventilators and pay for partial of a new ambulance,” Danner said. “That’ll keep the people of this area protected. I’m really excited because, a small county like this, that’s quite a bit of a grant.”

Danner said the grant funding will allow emergency responders to be better equipped when called to a drug-related issue.

“When we get a call, we’ll be prepared for whatever because now, you never know with the opioid problem what people are going through when they get picked up,” Danner said. “[We’ll] just be prepared and save as many lives as we can. That’s what the ambulance service is all about and this will help us do that.”

Danner said the opioid epidemic in Overton County and the surrounding areas is the worst he has seen in 16 years.

“16 years ago when I first got on the county commission, when we were looking at the jails, we had people that were on marijuana or drinking,” Danner said. “Now it’s opioids and it’s a really high cost to the counties all around. I guess we have more of it here and it’s really costly because when we get inmates in the jail that’s on opioids, a lot of times they have medical problems because of that.”

Campbell, Sumner, Hawkins, and Cocke Counties also received funding from the USDA in the fight against opioid abuse and addiction.