Dominique Felton started using drugs at 13 years old. In her 20s, she escalated to selling drugs to maintain her habit. When she was incarcerated, she had 10 warrants out for her arrest.
In the Sanpete County Jail in rural central Utah, her life would turn around thanks to the work of Cheryl Swapp and Intermountain’s Community Health team.
The team was recently recognized nationally for their work that drastically reduced repeat offender bookings in the jail. The project started back in 2020 when Intermountain’s Community Health team received a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) Planning Grant to conduct a robust needs assessment in Central Utah.
The needs assessment identified a critical need to support prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts for individuals with opioid use disorder in the 6-county region. In 2021, Intermountain Health received two HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) grants: Implementation III and the Psychostimulant Support Grant, totaling $1.5 million dollars in funding.
“We combined strong community partnerships with Intermountain resources to apply for the federal grants that have allowed us to do this work and make a positive impact on the livelihood and well-being of many in this rural community,” says Sarah Diefendorf, community health director and government grants leader.
With that funding, Intermountain hired Cheryl, a community health worker employed by the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office in July 2022.
Cheryl works with individuals with substance and opioid use disorders in the Sanpete County Jail. She conducts substance and opioid use screenings and offers Moral Reconation Therapy and peer support classes for individuals in the criminal justice system and those exiting from the jail.
“Cheryl kept in contact with a rehab [facility] that I wanted to go to and made sure they had a bed for me,” Dominique says. Dominique is a year sober, employed, and reconnected with her children. “Without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she says.
In the 18 months before Cheryl was hired, Sanpete County had 599 repeat offender bookings. In the 18 months since a community health worker was hired in the jail, there have been 236 repeat offender bookings, representing a 61% reduction in recidivism.
This would not be possible without Intermountain’s key community collaborators in this work, including the:
- Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office
- Central Utah Counseling Center
- Central Utah Public Health Department
- FourPoints Health
- Salt Lake Harm Reduction Coalition
- Snow College
- South Sanpete County School District
- Utah Office of the Medical Examiner
- USARA (Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness)
Cheryl and Intermountain’s Community Health team presented this work at the 2024 HRSA Reverse Site Visit Meetings in Washington, D.C. March 6.
The 1,000-person audience of grantees and HRSA officials voted this team’s presentation as the top winner among six other grantees based on:
- Community impact
- Creativity
- Wow factor
- Applicability
- Overall presentation
“Receiving this recognition has made me want to get back to work at the jail and double our efforts on what we are doing,” Cheryl says. “There are people back at the Sanpete County Jail that are waiting to take that first step in a lifestyle change and I can’t wait to be there to help them. There is so much more I want to do to expand the program before the grant ends.”
The Community Health team has already used lessons learned from this work in Central Utah to secure additional grant funds to replicate this program in Washington County.
“This work embodies one of our core values as an organization: that we are partners in health,” Sarah says. “We would not see the success we celebrate today with our work on opioid use in Central Utah without the strong support and collaboration with our community partners and project officers at HRSA. This funding is giving us the opportunity to build a new program to respond to a community need together.”
Intermountain Health was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1.5 million with zero percentage financed with non-governmental sources.