Integrated Care Of Greater Hickory, Inc

Integrated Care of Greater Hickory, Inc. (ICGH) treatment centers offer a patient-centered option for those suffering from depression, anxiety, trauma, or substance use disorders. Skilled counselors and caring staff provide patients with the support and confidence needed to wrestle with the devastating disease of addiction. This project,"Increasing Rural Communities' Access to Care and Housing: A North Carolina Health Equity Initiative" will allow ICGH to achieve the following goals in deeply rural segments of the catchment areas in Cleveland, Lincoln, Yadkin, Surry, and Wilkes counties of North Carolina. For the purpose of this project we have identified the areas to be served, Cleveland and Lincoln counties, as the Western Rural Catchment Area, and Yadkin, Surry, and Wilkes counties as the Northern Rural Catchment Area. Goal 1 - Establish new MAT (Medication-Assisted Treatment) access point(s) to provide both medications and supportive services to individuals with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and/or Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) in rural communities. Goal 2 - Enhance the MAT workforce through recruitment, training, and the development of peer mentorship networks. Goal 3 - Build community capacity and infrastructure to support more effective and efficient MAT service provision. Goal 4 - Ensure sustainability of the new MAT access points through improved billing and coding, as well as enrollment of eligible individuals into health insurance. The 'hidden' unhoused and unsheltered population of rural areas perpetuates a cycle of scarcity of and lack of access to resources. The need for taking services to the hidden rural unhoused and unsheltered persons is a need to take MAT access points across all five (5) proposed counties