Counties offer help after overdoses

LANCASTER — An image seared into the memory of Scott Duff motivates him to help Fairfield County residents who are addicted to opioids and other drugs get clean and reclaim their lives.

“I was at an overdose death scene in June,” said Duff, the director of Project FORT (Fairfield County Overdose Response Team). “When you see a mother on all fours in the front yard, bawling her eyes out because she just lost her son, that stays with you and re-energizes you for the task.”

For Fairfield, Athens, Hocking, Ross and Franklin counties — all among a growing number of counties across Ohio that have formed overdose-response teams — the task is to work with survivors of drug overdoses and their families to get them into addiction treatment and other help as soon as possible. The teams also lend a hand to addicts who haven’t overdosed but are seeking treatment and other help.

“We want to eliminate overdose deaths and reduce the number of accidental overdoses,” Duff said.

This year, Fairfield County, which has nearly 152,000 residents, has had 70 drug overdoses, including five that were fatal, Duff said. Franklin County, which has nearly 1.3 million residents, had 180 suspected overdoses just in the week that ended Aug. 12, according to data reported to Franklin County Public Health by hospitals and Columbus Division of Fire medics.

Project FORT, which started this year, has helped about two dozen people enter drug treatment.