Coroner: Overdoses drop for 2nd year
WEST GOSHEN » The presence of the potent opioid fentanyl in those who died of accidental drug overdoses continues to plague Chester County, even as the total number of such deaths declined for the second straight year, according to figures released by the county Coroner’s Office.
Of the 104 drug overdoses recorded by the coroner, an estimated 77 percent involved the drug, which is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and is used by those selling heroin to increase their potency and demand. But it is also incredibly deadly, causing even regular heroin users to succumb and die, those studying the opioid crisis in the nation agree.
According to Dr. Christina VandePol, the county coroner, fentanyl was found to be present in more than three-quarters of the overdose cases her office investigated and remained by far the most frequently identified substance on toxicology testing.
The majority of drug overdose deaths involved multiple substances. Heroin, cocaine, and ethanol — alcohol — were each present in approximately 25 percent of cases. Xylazine, a large animal anesthetic often used to enhance illicit drugs in the county, was present in approximately 23 percent of cases.
The 104 overdose deaths were slightly fewer than the 112 recorded in 2018 but far fewer than the number reported in 2017, 144. VandePol and others said the decreasing number meant that efforts to combat the overdose epidemic in the county were working.
“The intense efforts to combat the opioid epidemic appear to be having an impact, at least as far as fatal overdoses,” she said in her release, issued Tuesday. “That is good news. Hopefully, we have turned a corner.
“But it’s still a tragedy when more than 100 people in our county die of a preventable cause,” she said. “Many of these deaths are now occurring in people who have sought and received treatment or who have been incarcerated, so in my opinion, we need to take a closer look at those situations to see how we can do better.”
One of those who works toward reducing drug addiction and overdose deaths is John Gailey of East Goshen, a retired pharmaceutical company executive and board member with Kacie’s Cause, the county-based nonprofit organization fighting the heroin and opioid epidemic.
He said that in addition to increasing community prevention efforts through awareness campaigns, the decrease in overdose deaths came as the result of the saturation across the county of Narcan, the antiopioid nasal spray that can revive someone suffering an overdose.
Kacie’s Cause, he said, had distributed about 60 Narcan “kits” — boxes containing two Narcan doses — in 2019, free of charge to those residents requesting them at community training events across the county. “It’s an absolute lifesaver,” Gailey said, estimating that the introduction of the kits had made possible about 400 saved lives in the county in the past five years. Narcan is available without a prescription at area pharmacies.
“The more people know about this epidemic and the ways to combat it, the fewer people die,” he said. He also noted that state and federal funding for anti-opioid efforts was having an impact.
Overall, a total of 225 accidental deaths were investigated by the Corner’s Office, slightly fewer than in 2018 (232) and 2017 (234).
Drug overdoses — at 46 percent — accounted for the largest number of deaths, but falls and motor vehicle collisions accounted for the other significant number of such deaths, with falls the second most common cause.
According to VandePol, unlike drug overdose deaths, deaths attributed to falls are on the rise. In 2017, 45 people died after a fall, but this increased to 76 in 2019. The percentage of accidental deaths from falls rose from 19 percent in 2017 to 27 percent in 2018 and then 34 percent in 2019.
“The increased incidence of falls as a preventable cause of death is alarming,” said VandePol. “It reflects the aging of our population, as almost 80 percent of fall-related deaths are in those over the age of 80. The actual incidence is probably higher because we are not always notified when an elderly person dies after a fall. Analysis of fallrelated and other preventable deaths in our older residents has been and will continue to be a focus of the Coroner’s Office.”
“The intense efforts to combat the opioid epidemic appear to be having an impact, at least as far as fatal overdoses. That is good news. Hopefully, we have turned a corner.
— Dr. Christina VandePol, Chester County coroner