During Tuesday’s Hardin County Fiscal Court meeting, Hardin County Attorney Jenny Oldham introduced Katie Bennett, who began working as the treatment coordinator in the county attorney’s office on January 9.
Oldham said support from the fiscal court allowed the county attorney’s office to achieve a milestone.
“Thanks to the fiscal court, who appropriated phase one of our opioid settlement funds (at least Hardin County’s portion) to the county attorney’s office, we’ve been able to hire what I believe is the first ever treatment coordinator in a county attorney’s office for drug treatment,” Oldham said.
Oldham said Bennett, an Elizabethtown native, has been integrating herself into the criminal court system, and one of the main focuses of the job will be ensuring court-ordered treatment is handled effectively.
“She’s assessing local treatment, and when I say local, regional treatment providers, again to ensure the integrity of that treatment,” Oldham said. “We want to make sure that anytime we’re referring, and when I say referring it’s through a court order, we’re not just suggesting, but when we’re court ordering drug treatment, we want to make sure that that program is sound.”
Bennett is also tasked with facilitating non-violent and not-trafficking offenders to determine if the appropriate course of action is to get that person into a treatment program rather than jail.
Oldham said her office appreciates the potential impact the treatment coordinator position can bring.
“I know as a community we put a lot of resources toward treatment, and it would be nice to be able to measure that we’ve moved the needle, that we see lives that are improving for the person who’s dealing with the addiction, and we know that also includes their family, their community, so we’re excited that this could do great things,” Oldham said.
Hardin County has several programs and initiatives aimed at drug treatment and prevention, as evidenced recently by the county receiving Recovery Ready Community certification from the state.
