Two Brazos Valley recipients of grant money from the Texas Opioid Abatement Council

This podcast is a visit with Albert Ramirez and Shawn Edwards of the Burleson Health Resource Center, visiting with WTAW's Bill Oliver.WTAW News has received more information about grant money coming to two Brazos Valley recipients from the Texas Opioid Abatement Fund. $750,000 dollars is going to Burleson County's health resource center to hire additional people to work in local schools with students and their families. The retired health center director, Albert Ramirez, says the additional people will reduce their reliance on out of town agencies. And the health center's new director, Shawn Edwards, says one of the biggest goals of the additional staff is to help those with substance abuse issues achieve recovery goals.The state opioid grant fund also awarded eight grants to Texas A&M's health science center. Six of the eight grants, totaling almost $4 million dollars, will be spent by the pharmacy college to support communities around the state to address the opioid crisis.Original story, June 26, 2026:The Texas A&M health science center and Burleson County are among the latest recipients of grant money collected through opioid drug settlement agreements with a state agency.A list from the Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council says ten locations of the health science center around the state are getting a combined $5,820,291 for what is described as "treatment and coordination of care" services.Burleson County is getting $749,975 for what is described as "recovery support services".WTAW News has requested specific details about the grant money will be spent.The Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council, whose activities are administered by the state comptroller's office, was formed according to its website "to ensure that money recovered through the joint efforts of the state and its political subdivisions through a statewide opioid settlement agreement is allocated fairly and spent to remediate the opioid crisis using efficient, cost-effective methods."Click HERE to read and download the statewide list of grant recipients as printed from the Texas Opioid Abatement Council website.The comptroller's office provided WTAW News with the nine locations of the health science center (HSC) grants. The list includes what are described as HSC "presence" in Galveston, Houston, Kingsville, McAllen, Killeen, and services in five "regional healthcare partnerships" (RHP) around the state. They are RHP regions 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20.Click HERE to read and download a map of Texas regional healthcare partnerships (RHP), courtesy of the Texas comptroller's office.