Philip Seymour Hoffman. Prince. Tom Petty. Heath Ledger. John Belushi. Janis Joplin. All celebrities who died of an opioid overdose. The list goes on and on. It seems like the opioid crisis is always in the news, and for good reason – drug overdoses kill more people than cars, guns, or falling.
Tragically, the opioid crisis has affected many families in the Greater Rochester area. Approximately every other day, someone in Monroe County dies from an opioid overdose. 2018 has been terrible year – 110 people in the Rochester area have died from overdoses so far.
What are opioids, and what’s being done to address the crisis on a local level?
What are Opioids
Opioids include both prescription drugs and illicit drugs like heroin. Most prescription drugs are used after surgery or a serious injury to provide pain relief, or to provide relief from illnesses like cancer. Brand names include OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, among others. Some people become addicted to prescription opioids, and then turn to heroin because it’s much cheaper and readily available.
Opioids are highly addictive because they activate powerful reward centers in your brain. Addiction occurs when something that started as pleasurable suddenly feels like it’s something that you can't live without. One reason that overdoses occur is because people who develop tolerances increase their doses so they can feel high again.
Opioids affect the part of the brain that regulates breathing. When people take high doses of opioids, it slows their breathing. Death occurs when people stop breathing.
When people suddenly stop taking opioids, they can go through agonizing withdrawal symptoms. People will do anything to avoid the symptoms, so relapses occur. A successful, life-long recovery usually involves long-term medication, counseling and a treatment plan.
Recent Trends
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, people who began using heroin in the 1960’s were predominantly young men from minority groups living in urban areas (82.8 percent) whose first opioid of abuse was heroin. However, prescription opioid abuse has shifted the demographic of opioid users to a population that is older, less minority, and more rural/suburban, with fewer gender differences. Nearly 90 percent of people who began to use opioids in the last decade were white.
From 1991 to 2011, there was a near tripling of opioid prescriptions dispensed by U.S. pharmacies (from 76 million to 219 million prescriptions). In parallel with this increase, there was also a near tripling of opioid-related deaths over the same time period.
Fifty percent of people who suffer from a mental health disorder simultaneously struggle with some form of substance abuse. Therefore, it is becoming even more critical to increase funding of behavioral health programs. As New York State moves towards a value-based payment program, there is an increase in the need for mental health and substance use treatment providers to become integrated into the care delivery system. Cuts to Medicaid would threaten the sustainability of these services.
What Can We Do
Pandion Healthcare: Education & Advocacy, in conjunction with our Medical Director Committee, collaborated across our nine-county region to develop a set of guidelines for the prescribing of opioids and sedatives in the Emergency Departments and Urgent Care. These guidelines have been in effect since May 2017.
Following the success of the guidelines, we convened an Opioid Summit, in April 2018, with representation from 12 hospitals, 8 county health departments, and multiple community and state agencies. Its goal was to address any gaps in actionable data on opioid overdose (fatal and non-fatal) as well as to determine how to allocate community resources appropriately. From this meeting, it was determined that there was a need for more timely data collection about opioid overdoses. Pandion then established a community-wide group to explore potential opportunities for data collection across our nine-county region.
The Monroe County Department of Public Health has also demonstrated a deep commitment to addressing the opioid epidemic locally. In January 2018, Dr. Michael Mendoza, the Commissioner of Public Health, spoke at a Pandion Healthcare: Education & Advocacy Board Meeting about how addiction should be treated as a chronic disease. It’s a complex medical problem without a quick solution. However, the Department of Public Health is taking the opioid epidemic very seriously, and they’ve developed a comprehensive action plan that’s posted on their website: www.monroecounty.gov/opioids.
How You Can Help
- Learn how to use Narcan. Narcan is the brand name for Naloxone, which is a nose spray that can reverse an opioid overdose and save someone’s life. Narcan is now available over the counter in 46 states (including New York). The Monroe County Department of Public Health offers free Narcan trainings if you register on their website.
- Refer friends and family to addiction treatment centers. If you, or someone you know suffers from addiction, there are many facilities in Rochester that offer treatment. UR Medicine offers a range of individual and group services, including medication-supported recovery programs. Call 585-275-5400 for more information. Rochester Regional Health has also helped hundreds of people in the Rochester area to safely detoxify by reducing the effect of opioid withdrawal. Call 585-737-7740 for more information.
Whatever the situation, it’s important to get help before it’s too late.
Pandion Healthcare: Education and Advocacy is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 association whose membership is comprised of 17 hospitals and their related health systems in the nine counties of Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, Yates, Allegany, Steuben, and Chemung. The Association works closely with the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and the American Hospital Association (AHA), collaborating on many issues and activities.