Opioid-related deaths continue to rise in Delco
As Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday declared Pennsylvania’s heroin and opioid addiction crisis a statewide disaster, Delaware County recorded at least 18 more opioid-related deaths in 2017 than the previous year, according to figures currently available by the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s office.
There are 47 cases still pending final toxicology and/or final classification, said Jason McGuigan, a spokesman for the Medical Examiner’s office. Final figures should be available next month. Based on available figures provided by McGuigan, there were 247 drug-related deaths in Delaware County in 2017. Of those, 219 were opioid-related. In 2016, there were a total of 227 drug-related deaths. Of those, 201 were opioid-related.
The 90-day declaration announced by Wolf is the first-of-itskind for a public health emergency in Pennsylvania and will utilize a command center at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to track progress and enhance coordination of nine health and public safety agencies.
Delaware County Council Chairman John McBlain, who is a member
of the Delaware County Heroin Task Force, said he welcomes the governor’s bold move.
“The numbers are discouraging,” McBlain said of the county’s opioid casualty toll. “We welcome any action the governor takes to ratchet up or accelerate the fight against heroin and opioids.”
McBlain, who thinks the state has an important role in the front-end battle against opioids, said he would not even want to imagine what the number would be without naloxone, a drug commonly referred to as Narcan that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Delaware County spokeswoman Emily Harris said a total of 1,020 lives have been saved by Narcan since police officers began carrying the drug 4 under David’s Law, which went into on Nov. 29, 2014. Of those, she said 532 were made in 2017; and 13 were made in the first 10 days of January, 2018.
McBlain said he would doubt that there is a single family in Delaware County who has not been touched by the issue in some way.
“It has touched my family directly, the sons and daughters of some of my best friends, children of colleagues,” he said, describing the opioid crisis as a priority issue during his six years on council.
Back in June, police officers in Upper Darby saved six lives with Narcan during five separate calls in a single day.
“Looking at Delaware County, there is no other place like Upper Darby when it comes to the drug problem,” township Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Wednesday night, blaming the scourge on its close proximity to Philadelphia.
Since police began administering Narcan, there have been 385 saves recorded in Upper Darby alone. In the first 10 days of January, Narcan was administered 10 times; one resulted in a death, Chitwood said.
While Chitwood, too, welcomes any help at combatting the problem, he’s skeptical because of what he sees happening in the township, almost daily.
“I think the governor making this a priority is important and maybe we will get more resources out to help those who need it ... Any government agency that can help should be applauded, but it is not a panacea to solving the problem,” he said. “The negative side is the large number of people who want to ingest or inject heroin.”
Chitwood said he has seen addicts receive Narcan in the morning who are back out on the street in the afternoon, as well as addicts who have gone to rehab treatments multiple times.
“I’ve seen people who are addicted go to rehab 14 times,” he said.