From January to June 2016, there were 74 unintentional opioid-related deaths in Onondaga County, but new data shows the county’s opioid epidemic has improved since then.

Within the same six-month span in 2017, there were 53 deaths, according to Syracuse.com. Officials said the 28 percent decrease is the result of community activism and work within the Onondaga County Health Department.

Rebecca Shultz, the health department’s director of surveillance and statistics, said the county’s Drug Task Force has had success in preventing deaths by alleviating the epidemic through prevention, crisis and treatment programs.

“I think it’s really difficult to point to any one strategy that we can say directly has resulted in this decrease,” Schultz said. “It’s more likely a combination of strategies from these three areas.”

Schultz said the prevention programs focus on working with medical providers to stop addiction, while crisis programs aim to increase the availability of Narcan, a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses. Availability of treatment ensures there’s enough capacity to treat individuals in the community when they need it, she said.

The health department’s main focus is prevention, Schultz said. She added that it’s too early to say whether the decreasing trend will persist.

The Prevention Network — also known as the Onondaga Council on Alcoholism Addictions, Inc. — is also fighting the opioid crisis and trying to prevent addiction.

Executive Director Beth Hurny said while the decrease is definitely a good sign, she’s careful not to let such good news distract from the persisting problem.

“I definitely still think we are in epidemic crisis mode,” she said. “I don’t want to get too caught up in the success of it, and (I want to) stay focused on saving lives.”

Hurny said Prevention Network’s main focus is to help people make better choices. The council’s prevention strategy has three levels — primary, secondary and tertiary — to battle the opioid crisis.

The primary level involves working with young people and parents through school presentations and leadership skill training, among other programs, to prevent drug usage among people who have never experimented with or used opioids.

Secondary prevention provides drug risk education to people who have used opioids but are still in a position where they can make healthier decisions, Schultz said.

The tertiary level is a relapse prevention program that usually works with those in the recovery community to maintain a clean lifestyle.

Schultz and Hurny said the opioid crisis affects all demographics, and Schultz said this problem does not only affect Syracuse. It reaches urban, rural and suburban areas alike.

Hurny said residents must understand that the county is in a crisis that affects everyone. People should be sensitive toward others they know who may be struggling with opioid addiction themselves, she added.

“We are fighting really hard to provide information, education, awareness on an individual, family and community level to help prevent something like this epidemic from happening again,” Hurny said. “Today it’s heroin, but there’s going to be other drugs coming down the road.”

Published on November 9, 2017 at 12:02 am

Contact Ashleigh: amgarris@syr.edu