DOBSON — Two years after creating an opioid response position, Surry County has seen mixed results in fighting local drug addictions.
As of last week, the county is about 40% ahead of its worst year ever for drug overdoses, according to an update given to the county Board of Commissioners by Mark Willis, substance abuse response director.
In 2018, there were 372 calls to the EMS about overdoses. As of the meeting last week, Willis said there had already been 286 calls. This would put the county on pace for 522 in 2020.
This figure represents only the ones the county knows about through its EMS, Willis added. Speaking to Northern Regional Hospital and Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital, he said those emergency departments between the two of them are seeing additional overdoses come in through private vehicles.
Also, as Willis stated in a previous update, it doesn’t take into account how many people suffer an overdose without anyone going to the hospital for treatment.
He told of “Narcan parties” where drug users will get together in groups with a few doses nearby of Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of an overdose. If one of the users OD’s, then the Narcan is used on the spot without anyone calling for help.
It has been two years almost to the day since the commissioners tasked him with addressing the opioid crisis, Willis said. “I think I’m in a good position now to do exactly that.”
“The Opioid Advisory Council provided me in July of 2018 with six strategies that identified some of the problems and some of the solutions to address those problems,” he said.
“Unfortunately our present strategy isn’t as effective as it could be. It is not yet comprehensive and does not focus our resources and does not seize all the opportunities offered to affect intervention.
“If you believe addiction is a disease, then you believe that we are faced with a public health crisis, and those solutions must be tailored to address the same,” said Willis. In that case, a continuum of care is needed for substance abuse disorder the way the country has responded to COVID-19: prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.
He said he tried to find as many choices and options as he could throughout the country to tackle the issue. However, the options only work when folks stop looking at this as a criminal problem and start addressing substance abuse as a disease.
“I’m not entirely confident — and it’s a failing on my part — to tell you whether the majority of county residents believe we should approach our substance-abuse problems with a health approach or with a criminal justice approach.”
This is a change in thinking for Willis himself. He served 22 years in the Marines, then went into law enforcement with a Virginia police department, before becoming a special agent for the federal government.
As he has said at past meetings, the county can’t arrest its way out of this drug crisis.
“I have to compliment our healthcare community; they have been exceptionally cooperative,” Willis said.
Six treatment providers are addressing the issue, then there are the two local hospitals.
The Surry County Intervention Team — funded by county government a grant from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services — became active in mid-February.
“Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, they’ve received 56 referrals to treatment and thus far have successfully placed 20 residents in treatment.”
It turns out the Intervention Team was just in time, he said, as the shelter-in-place order and lengthy restrictions have created physical and emotional impacts on residents have resulted in a 32% increase in EMS responses to overdose calls.
Willis gave thanks to EMS Director John Shelton and his team who have made 33 referrals since the intervention team became active.
“It’s pretty impressive in a county of 72,000 people to have two hospitals and six treatment providers,” he said.
Those six providers — Triad Therapeutic, Pinnacle Therapeutic, Hope Valley, Daymark Recovery, Choose Life Directors and RHA — all met together and exchanged ideas as well as met with the intervention team, he said.
Mount Airy Police Department has made two referrals to the team.
“Unfortunately we haven’t done a good job in seizing all the opportunities,” when it comes to coordinating with law enforcement and the court system, he said.
He has spoken previously about the idea of a drug court; rather than an addict going to prison for drug possession, the person could be evaluated to see if he or she could be eligible for alternative ruling from a judge.
“We don’t screen for nor treat substance use disorder in the detention center,” he said.
“Our objective … is to decrease the population of Surry County residents who abuse substances, which is kind of logical,” he said. But, it’s hard to know if the number is going down when it’s almost impossible to determine how many are using drugs right now.
“I don’t have all the answers. I’ve listed as many options that would be beneficial to this county as possible.”
Opioid grant
While Willis spoke of not having all the answers and the strategy not being as effective as it could be, the county manager told a different story.
Chris Knopf informed the commissioners that the Triad Regional Council wants to partner with Surry County.
“What we’ve been doing the last couple of years, we’re really ahead of the rest of the region,” said the county manager. This is why the council wants to work with Surry. They are interested in replicating Mark’s work elsewhere.
Knopf said Willis is seeking a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would go toward planning for a rural communities opioid response program.
The maximum award for any county is $200,000, Knopf explained, to be awarded between September and February. The best part is there is no matching fund required from the county.
Responding to questions by Commissioner Van Tucker, Knopf said once the planning is done, there is no requirement to apply for an implementation grant, Knopf said. The county’s investment to date has been pretty good; now there are other funds to take advantage of.
Transitional housing is a big problem, the county manager said. Those coming out of rehab don’t need to go right back into the environment they just left.
After the discussion, the county board approved the grant application.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com