PUBLIC HEALTH
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO Solve Louisville’ s Opioid Crisis
Sarah Moyer, MD, MPH
The opioid crisis continues to devastate the lives of people in Louisville, across the state of Kentucky and throughout many sections of the country. Data from the Jefferson County coroner indicate that 285 individuals died from a drug overdose in 2016. In fact, according to vital statistics data, overdose deaths in Louisville have risen each year for the past five years.
Louisville’ s opioid epidemic is a multi-faceted problem that will require engagement from all segments of the community to reverse and solve. The Department of Public Health and Wellness is convening an interdisciplinary workgroup of representatives from the private and public sectors to forge a strategic plan to deal with this community crisis. We appreciate the medical community joining us in this effort.
In July 2016, Public Health and Wellness created the Office of Addiction Services to begin to respond to the opioid epidemic. The office seeks to coordinate community resources to offer public health solutions.
One initiative of the Office of Addiction Services is a treatment advisory group whose members are representatives of area agencies that currently offer drug treatment. The purpose of the group is to get past the silo approach to drug treatment, and instead to seek a unified approach to grant opportunities, and seek out and implement best practices from around the country. Participants include providers from Centerstone Kentucky, Volunteers of America, Our Lady of Peace, the Morton Center, Greater Louisville Counseling Center, the Beacon House and the University of Louisville.
The treatment advisory group is also looking to create a single point of access to drug treatment. The group has been working with the Metro United Way 211 Call Center as a possible point of access. This will involve creating an enhanced database of all treatment centers and related resources throughout the community so that when someone seeks treatment, they have the full range of options to choose from.
The city budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 includes additional funding for the Office of Addiction Services. Plans call for an outreach team to engage physicians and others at emergency rooms and hospitals to refer overdose patients to treatment.
Drug overdoses are a big issue for all emergency services. In February 2017, Louisville EMS made 869 overdose runs. The same month there were 118 drug overdoses in one 72-hour period. New funding will allow Louisville to implement a new Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program( ODMAP) that has helped other cities( Baltimore for one) that suffer with high drug use and high overdose numbers. This program provides real-time surveillance of known and suspected overdose events. The system will provide early warning of possible spikes in drug overdose events and allow first responders and city officials to prepare accordingly.
First responders at drug overdose events including Emergency Medical Service and police will input data on the location and time. The first responder will also record whether the overdose was fatal or nonfatal, and the number of doses of naloxone administered. The responder inputs this data using a smartphone or mobile dispatch terminal while still on the scene. It’ s then fed into a central database which generates a map, thus capturing the locations of overdose events reported.
6 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE