New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Organization to help city address opioid deaths
NEW HAVEN — A global health organization is set to aid the city in addressing opioid deaths in New Haven, one of the top five cities in Connecticut with opioid fatalities, according to the health director.
The organization, Vital Strategies, will work with the city to respond to the unintended opioid deaths here, part of a national problem, particularly in the era of COVID-19.
Christine Rodriguez has been detailed to the city full time by Vital Strategies; she will coordinate a Harm Reduction Task Force to come up with solutions and strategic direction. She will continue to be paid by Vital Strategies.
New Haven Health Director Maritza Bond said Emergency Medical Response data for November shows that of 60 substance abuse incidents, 25 percent were overdoses.
Nearly 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2019, according to federal statistics, with Connecticut losing 1,200 lives, a 20 percent increase from the year before.
There were 53 overdose deaths in New Haven last year and 40 preliminary in 2020, according to the state. A total of 251 individuals in New Haven died from an overdose from 2015 to date. In comparison, for the period from 2015 to date, Hartford had 372 deaths, Bridgeport had 272 deaths, Waterbury had 324 deaths, Stamford had 61 deaths and Danbury had 93 deaths, the data shows.
The new task force will be overseen by Dr. Mehul Dalal, head of the city Community Services Administration.
Vital Strategies, in a statement, said out of dozens of localities, it selected to work in New Haven “to focus its investment due to the leadership, existing resources, and the real opportunity to make a difference.” Dalal said it will build on the assets here, such as the decades-long service by the Yale Community Health Care van under the leadership of Dr. Rick Altice and the work of SWAN, or Sex Workers and Allies Network, led by Beatrice Codianni.
Altice said when organizations come together to discuss these kind of problems, new solutions often arise.
He said the first syringe exchange program was in New Haven and Boston, with the community van a response to that in 1993.
“I think New Haven is really one of the crown jewels with regard to dealing with evolving epidemics,” he said. Altice said an example of this was the 1989 HIV prevention pilot study by the New Haven Health Department. He said opioid overdoses are now front and center.
Since the beginning, his organization has handed out more than 800,000 syringes. This year he said they have started more than 150 patients on medications for opioid use disorder and have done it remotely through apps and telehealth.
Dalal said they will use data to solve the “unique and idiosyncratic problems” in New Haven and target services to them. He said some of that work is ongoing. Dalal said anyone interested in joining the task force is welcome.
He said harm reduction refers to “practical strategies that are aimed at reducing the negative consequences of drug use.” Dalal said people who use drugs will always be part of the community, and condemning or ignoring the problem “is not going to make it go away.”
Dalal said drug use is a “continuum that spans everything from abstinence all the way to severe use of substances.” He said “it is a long and complicated journey” that leads to overdoses.
“We have to target our intervention to knowing where people are at,” he said. Dalal said it comes down to treating people who use drugs with “dignity, fairness and respect.”
Mayor Justin Elicker said it is harder for people to get services in the pandemic. He said the vast majority of unintended deaths involve opioids and most involve a synthetic opioid.
“This is a deep challenge that is being experienced by every city around the nation and New Haven is not any different,” Elicker said. What makes it different here is treating substance abuse as a health issue, not a criminal problem, he said.
“It is not only the compassionate way to approach this challenge. It is also the way that the data say will lead us to ... success,” Elicker said.
Codianni said she was grateful for the updated initiative by the city in appointing the task force.
SWAN was started in 2016 as a harm reduction organization. It hands out Fentanyl test strips, which can indicate whether a substance is laced with that deadly substance, and naloxone, which can reverse an overdose.
“Working with this (task force) is going to help us reach more people,” Codianni said.