Jessamine County officials are ready to take the fight against opiate abuse to the screens.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Jessamine County Fiscal Court, County Attorney Brian Goettl informed the court that the opiate abuse public service announcement that was created with funds from county agencies would soon be getting a new marketing push.

Goettl said that the the Jessamine County Agency for Substance Abuse Policy (ASAP) board, which is overseen by the Jessamine County Health Department, has approved a $10,500 media buy for the “The Opiate Epidemic and You” PSA.

The buy would consist of two marketing strategies: purchasing $6,000 worth of air-time for the 60-second PSA from the Spectrum cable company and purchasing $4,500 worth of geofenced digital marketing from specialist firm Ad-Ios.

Geofencing is a modern marketing approach in which GPS and RFID technology is utilized by advertisers to create a virtual geographic boundary that allows software to trigger a response on mobile devices when they enter the designated area.

Goettl said that the geofenced campaign would consist of having an edited 30-second clip of the PSA play on digital devices when people search for healthcare offices in the area.

“If they are going to the doctor or hospital or pharmacy, hopefully we will reach them with that opioid PSA,” Goettl said.

“It’s kind of cutting edge, because we are doing it in conjunction with the cable advertising,” Goettl explained. “We are getting a two-for-one, and by reinforcing the message, it should have a greater impact.”

According to Randy Gooch, Director of the Jessamine County Health Department, the funding is pending approval by the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, which oversees the state’s ASAP programs. He foresees both the cable ads and the digital ads to be running no later than Nov. 1.

Gooch said that with the geofencing campaign, the Health Department will be able to track and gauge its effectiveness by many people see the ad on their digital or mobile device and how long the ad plays in each instance. He said that his office will have great data to evaluate the campaign’s overall success.

The PSA clip made its public debut on June 28 of this year, with the goal of using awareness to curtail the growing problem of addiction among the older demographics.

Heroin has climbed to the top of the list of drugs contributing to Kentucky overdose deaths with 293 deaths in 2015 compared to the 42 in 2011, according to a press release regarding the PSA, with Jessamine County alone experienced a 39 percent increase from 2011 to 2015.

The ASAP board meets monthly to discuss and develop a strategic plan to reduce the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among youth and adult populations in Jessamine County.