PHOENIX — In 2021 the Arizona Attorney General's office won a settlement against the consulting firm McKinsey & Company which was accused of driving up sales of opioids, which many have accused of starting the opioid crisis.
Now that settlement has turned into a $6,000,000 grant.
“The people that created the crisis are now going to help pay to treat the consequences of what they did,” said Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
Brnovich presented a check to Banner University Medical Center Phoenix for over one million dollars that will go towards setting up a telemedicine service to help patients in rural areas.
“It's going to help us recruit and hire providers that will be able to do this body of work as well as the technology it takes to provide the care remotely,” said addiction medicine specialist Dr. Maria Manriquez.
In Tucson, the funds will go towards a program to help wean newborns off of opioids.
12 programs and organizations received funds from the grant for treatment, education and prevention:
- US Vets Phoenix – $600,000
- Boys & Girls Club of the Valley (Maricopa and Pinal County) – $599,932
- Maggie’s Place – $599,632
- Banner Health Foundation (STARC) – $599,479
- Banner Health Foundation (FC-NAS) – $599,328
- Neighborhood Outreach Access to Health (NOAH) – $597,186
- Valley Hope Foundation – $579,700
- Amity Foundation – $570,933
- HonorHealth – $444,270
- Boys & Girls Club of the Sun Corridor (Pinal County) – $329,127
- Pinal Hispanic Council – $276,831
- Boys & Girls Club of Tucson – $254,661
“We thought it was important to get those resources back into our community as quickly as possible to the professionals helping to address and treat the crisis,” said Brnovich.
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