HANCOCK COUNTY — Thirteen Hancock County residents reportedly died from overdoses in 2017. Six of those were women. Five were in their 40s. Three died before the age of 30.
State health department statistics show that year to be the worst for Indiana’s opioid crisis. Five Hoosiers died each day in 2017 from overdoses, and three out of those five took an opioid, commonly heroin or fentanyl. Out of the 13 Hancock County overdose deaths, nine involved an opioid, and 76 county residents were treated at emergency departments for non-fatal opioid overdoses.
Indiana officials have worked to control the ever-changing epidemic, trying to grasp how drugs are impacting communities and how to prevent people from dying. They’re hoping a new $21 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides new weapons for that fight.
The Indiana State Department of Health recently announced the grant, split into $7.1 million increments over the next three years, as a way to help the state, localities and hospitals track overdoses more quickly and efficiently. With more up-to-date data available, health officials can detect the types of drugs that are posing the biggest threat to the public, and communities that are being the hardest hit.
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“We’re working on all of these different strategies to help tackle this epidemic,” said Katie Hokanson, director of the division of trauma and injury for the state health department. “This really is an evolving epidemic, so we can’t let up now. Now is the time to take as many resources as we can, to really put an end to it.”
The health department has spent the past four years greatly improving its data tracking and response system through a variety of methods. This and other efforts to address the opioid epidemic appear to be having an impact. In 2018, preliminary data from the CDC shows that the number of overdose deaths in Indiana decreased from the year before, something that had not happened in at least 20 years. The state showed a 12 percent decline in the number of overdose deaths, from 1,808 to 1,584.
But that modest success shows why this grant money comes at a vital time, Hokanson said.
Indiana had requested funding from the CDC to pay for numerous programs that focused on better quality, comprehensive and timely data surveillance, Hokanson said.
“The goal was really to utilize this data to really drive prevention efforts at both the state and local level,” she said.
One focus for state officials is collecting data from hospital emergency departments. Officials are already working with hospitals to get information each time they treat someone suspected of a drug overdose.
The state health department can see trends and patterns emerging in that data and can determine the impact on a particular county or even a single hospital, Hokanson said.
The CDC grant will expand that monitoring to smaller hospitals and clinics to increase how quickly officials can see those patterns, allowing them to notify local officials.
“Having all of this information allows us to monitor the activity around these overdoses. The epidemic is evolving and changing, so if we don’t have this data, we can’t identify best practices and prevention,” Hokanson said.
Crystal Baker, office manager at the Hancock County Health Department, said the department can only collect information on overdoses in the county if it’s stated as the cause of death on a death certificate.
The health department has previously been awarded state grant dollars to distribute naloxone, known more commonly as Narcan, to first-responders. Each officer in the county carries a nasal spray version of Narcan, which they provide to people who have overdosed. Sometimes it takes multiple sprays from officers to revive a person, said Matt Holland, deputy chief for the Greenfield Police Department.
Paramedics can administer Narcan through a syringe, a more potent dose of the overdose-reversing drug, but police can often respond faster than medics, said Maj. Bobby Campbell, chief deputy for the sheriff’s department. A few years ago, some people disagreed with officers carrying Narcan, since it would save people who use illegal drugs, Campbell said. He’s seen a huge benefit from the initiative.
“Our job is to get there and help,” Campbell said.
Holland said he’s recently noticed a slight drop in how often officers are called out to overdoses. He said police have arrested more people for methamphetamine as of late than for heroin or for other opioids.
While officers and paramedics have saved people from dying by overdose, Campbell said, the county has also been educating people who use drugs on how to start a “life of recovery.”
The Hancock County Probation Department created the heroin protocol program three years ago to treat offenders who are addicted to opioids. After pleading guilty to their crimes, people who enroll in the program are sent to serve their sentence in a halfway house program. Also, since last fall, several women have also stayed in the Talitha Koum Women’s Recovery House, the city’s first recovery house.
The county also provides recovery services within the jail and also drug court for self-identified addicts.
The CDC grant will additionally be used for a program called Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. Officials connect local physicians with specialists to provide the most up-to-date information about treating public health issues — in this case, drug misuse and overdose.
With so many different communities dealing with the opioid epidemic, this allows for greater connection and collaboration among those who have found success with local-level programs, Hokanson said.
“You have all of these providers around the state, but not all of them might be up to date on the latest and greatest best practices,” she said. “What could we do to convene subject-matter experts, give these providers education and information, and then walk through a case study so they now feel more empowered and informed when dealing with these types of situation.”
Part of the grant funding will allow individual communities to apply for and implement those same successful programs in their own area. Hancock County officials, and others, Hokanson said, will have an opportunity to apply for those funds over the three-year length of the grant.
Other projects include expanding connection to the state’s prescription drug monitoring program to small physician practices; adding online opioid prescribing courses for post-overdose treatment protocols for emergency departments; and offering harm-reduction training for law enforcement. Funds will also be used to help the Family and Social Services Administration to connect people with care, particularly by helping to pay for ride-share transportation to get people to treatment centers.
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What: Funding provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help Indiana detect drug overdose trends and aid in prevention.
Amount: More than $21 million over three years
What will it fund:
- Collect better, more timely data on overdoses treated at hospital emergency departments so health providers can respond to emerging threats more quickly.
- Enhance Indiana’s INSPECT, the state’s prescription drug monitoring program, to provide health records electronically to small physician practices and improve real-time access to patient prescription histories.
- Create online opioid prescribing courses for dentists and post-overdose treatment protocols for emergency departments.
- Partner with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to support transportation costs for rides to treatment centers.
- Provide harm-reduction training to law enforcement.
- Partner with the Indiana Department of Correction to train inmates as peer educators to decrease rates of hepatitis C among high-risk populations.
Information: in.gov/isdh
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Hancock County overdoses in 2017
Overdose deaths: 13
Overdose deaths involving opioids: 9
Emergency department visits involving any drug overdose: 213
Emergency department visits involving opioid overdose: 76
Source: Indiana State Department of Health
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Indiana overdose deaths
2018 (preliminary): 1,584
2017: 1,852
2016: 1,518
2015: 1,236
2014: 1,152
2013: 1,049
2012: 999
2011: 957
2010: 923
2009: 903
2008: 818
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indiana State Department of Health
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