It’s been a very busy week here, so I’ll keep this short.
Our suspected opiate overdoses are still on a downward trend compared to the same point last year. That being said, we are still facing a very potent form of opiate out on the streets. Even with the decreased numbers we are at our highest point of the amount of Naloxone that it is taking to revive these patients. Currently we are at an average of 3.76 mg per patient (or nearly two full doses of Naloxone).
We have been routinely giving 6 mg+ to victims of suspected opiate ODs which is disturbing. A lot of people who come through the Safe Station Program have been expressing their concern regarding the “stuff that’s out there,” and the fact that it is so potent is actually what has been driving them in for treatment. They don’t want to die.
They take comfort in the fact that we have opened our doors at the firehouse and that the community as a whole has been reducing the stigma of treatment and what it means to have substance use disorder.
Attached are the numbers for Safe Station intakes, Suspected Overdoses, and the graph comparing the last 13 months of suspected overdoses.
Christopher Hickey is Director of Emergency Services for the City of Manchester, NH.
