Coroner highlights small steps to eradicating addiction

Newsrooms across the commonwealth have spent years documenting the opioid crisis in their own communities. But now, in the special project State of Emergency: Searching for Solutions to Pennsylvania’s Opioids Crisis, we are marshalling resources to spotlight what Pennsylvanians are doing to try to reverse the soaring number of overdose deaths.

WITF is releasing more than 60 stories, videos and photos throughout July. This week, you will find stories about changing the trend.

 

With the number of drug deaths having more than tripled in Bradford County over the last year, officials are still in the process of seeking out effective ways to cure the crisis.

Bradford County Coroner and Western Alliance Emergency Services Executive Director Thomas Carman said four lives were lost to drugs from January to May in 2017. During the same period this year, there were 13.

Carmen pointed to government intervention as an absolutely essential piece in eradicating the opioid epidemic, but told of smaller ways local officials are combating the crisis.

For example, Carman said the presence of rehabilitation services have made a large impact in recent years, while some of the most effective ways to fight the epidemic have come through the introduction of naloxone and medication collection boxes.

Naloxone is a drug used to save individuals in case of overdose emergencies and is not new to the area, but has seen heightened popularity through a new initiative in 2017 and 2018, according to Carman. The medication is now carried by medical staff as well as state police, some school districts, even individuals that simply choose to arm themselves to help their neighbors.

“It’s kind of hard to present when you’re looking at four (deaths) last year and (13) this year, year-to-date, and yet talk about things that are working. But the reality is there are things that are working, it’s just hard to paint that picture when these numbers are so high but realistically … those numbers would be a lot higher if it wasn’t for those things,” said Carman, “I think that’s prevented a lot of overdoses. I think that number would be much higher if it wasn’t for that.”

In attempts to attack the drug crisis from a preventative end, Carman said members of local police forces and legislators have joined with him to create collection boxes where community members can drop off medications, especially opioids and other pain killers, to keep them out of their homes and out of the hands of potential abusers.

While the collection program began in 2016, Carman stated it has been ramped up this year and seen a large response.

While Carman highlighted successful programs he deemed as small steps to ending the nation-wide drug epidemic, he pointed to bigger government measures as a necessity to smothering it completely.

“Until they stop that flow of drugs into this country, we’re always going to be drug addicts. It’s consumer and demand,” he said. “All we’re doing is putting a Band-Aid on an arterial bleed, which is not good. An arterial bleed requires stitches and reconstructive surgery, not a Band-Aid. So all we’re doing is slowing down the blood. We’re not stopping it.”

Until legislation comes, Carman called for smaller scale steps such as arming with naloxone. It’s an action that, according to him, can’t serve as a cure all, but saves lives nonetheless.