Program takes on drug toll

County to enroll heroin-OD victims from ERs

Palm Beach County is launching a new program that officials hope will lower the heroin overdose death toll by getting addicts into medication-assisted treatment.

Starting Monday, patients will be given Suboxone, a drug that curbs withdrawal symptoms, and counseling as part of a pilot program at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis.

Initially, 30 patients treated in the emergency room for overdose symptoms will be enrolled in the program. If proven successful, it could be expanded.

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Capt. Houston Park said too often addicts who overdose on opioids are revived and released with no follow-up care. His agency is helping to spearhead the initiative. The program will provide initial doses of Suboxone at the hospital. EMS will visit the patient’s home for the next six days, administer tapered doses of Suboxone and evaluate the patient’s progress.

“We know no one is going to be cured in a week of this addiction,” Park said. “This is a lifelong addiction, but if they get medical treatment and they get the psychological treatment to go along with it, we have a higher success rate.”

Hospitals are taking other steps to prevent overdose deaths, Park said. Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach is now sending the overdose-reversal drug naloxone home with patients who have been treated there for an opioid overdose.

Officials estimate Palm Beach County answered more than 4,000 overdose calls in 2016. The average ER visit for an overdosing patient costs the health care