Chairman’s Corner: Opioid response, part 1

In mid-October, Columbia County — specifically in and around the Village of Chatham — was hit with a rapidly developing spike in heroin overdoses, which occurred over a period of roughly 24 hours. Regrettably, one of the seven overdoes resulted in a death.

We know that addiction, and in particular the heroin epidemic, presents a long, hard fight.

The threat and reality of an overdose may never face entire elimination.

What we can do is respond quickly and effectively to minimize the threat and to provide our community with the resources to prevent future fatalities.

This was among the underlying principles of the Columbia County Opioid Epidemic Response Plan, adopted by the Columbia County Board of Supervisors in April 2017.

At that time, I was quoted to say that much work went into the development of the plan, but this is the first step in a long process.

The county intends to follow through on this plan until each and every one who has fallen victim to this crisis has been provided with the help they need.

We intend to stem the tide of the opioid crisis, and to provide residents that are victims of the crisis the help they need.

With the recognition that Columbia County is home to a rich array of human services, county government officials, law enforcement and community-based organizations developed the county’s Opioid Epidemic Response Plan.

In the course of the plan’s development, the services and service providers were identified, as the best way to organize and enhance the effort going forward underwent much discussion. Since then, all involved have applied themselves to implementing the plan.

These efforts and key elements of the plan were employed in response to the recent overdose spike in the Chatham area. The response was swift, coordinated and effective.

A critical resource was the ODMAP system, which provides real-time suspected overdose surveillance data across jurisdictions, which supports public safety and public health efforts to mobilize an immediate response to a sudden increase in overdoses.

All Columbia County first responders and law enforcement personnel deploy ODMAP.

Relying on ODMAP, law enforcement, led by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the District’s Attorney Office, was able to pinpoint where the overdose spikes were occurring.

The response from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s office was strong and decisive.

Two suspected drug dealers were taken into custody, and a search warrant resulted in a cache of heroin and drug money taken off the street.

Community-based organizations and the county Health Department went to work supporting the community.

Addiction Recovery Peer support services were immediately available in the target area and NARCAN kits were distributed to residents.

Further, the new Columbia-Greene County Addiction Coalition website (https://www.columbiagreeneaddictioncoalition.org) proved a valuable resource during this crisis.

In addition, the Coalition posted social media alerts concerning the overdose crisis and other support resources.

Next time, I will offer comments from other county officials on the mid-October situation.

Reach Matt Murell at matt.murell@columbiacountyny.com.