The sobering and medical detox services at Iowa City’s GuideLink center have been a valuable resource for members of the community over the past five years, as the rate of overdoses has been increasing, but funding, staffing, and resource shortages are making it difficult for those in need to receive help.
Johnson County’s rising drug issues make GuideLink’s services useful for county residents. According to the District 7 Profile and Plan, a comprehensive summary of southeastern Iowa’s behavioral health, drug-involved overdoses from 2018 to 2023 have been similar or higher than Iowa’s average, with the rates of these overdoses only increasing, ranging from 10 to 16 deaths per 100,000.
Since opening, GuideLink has worked to combat this issue, but a lack of funding makes this difficult, representatives of the center said…