Using local data to help those with addictions

“We have someone we are trying to keep off the map.”

I’m awestruck over the number of times I’ve heard this phrase since the inception of the Celebrating Lost Loved Ones map in year 2015. When I started the map following the loss of my brother to opioids, I couldn’t have imagined that the project would reach over 1,725 grieving families, allowing them to connect with others who had endured similar losses to overdoses.

While deaths are increasingly featured on local news and becoming the prominent statistic of the opioid epidemic, this represents only a small fraction of the broader crisis landscape. The loved ones being “kept off the map” represent the two million people who are impacted with addiction every day, a population that must be considered when confronting the epidemic.

Some local governments are working to center those with addiction by understanding where overdoses are most likely to occur. As part of the Opioid Mapping Initiative, a coalition of local governments, nonprofits, and universities working with local opioid data, the Health District from Northern Larimer County in Colorado started compiling a variety of datasets to understand the scope of addiction in their community. “Geographically, we wanted to see who would be in locations where overdoses are occurring,” says Kiley Floren of the Community Impact team. They obtained data from Ft. Collins Police showing over 1,500 overdose incidents from the past three years. With this data, they hoped to arm public locations in places of high addiction with knowledge and naloxone, which can be used to reverse an overdose. In particular, they targeted business owners, and began an outreach campaign to educate them about addiction and overdoses.

Another critical step to understanding addiction in their community has been mapping mental health. Northern Larimer County sends a Community Health Survey every three years. Overlaying the map of those who responded struggling with depression, pain, and suicidal ideation with a map of overdose calls showed a visual link in the suburbs of downtown Ft. Collins. Next, the County is planning to re-engage with businesses and public places of these hot spots with education and naloxone in order to target resources for those with mental health struggles and addiction in these areas.

Across the country in Bergen County, New Jersey, the Prosecutor’s Office is using mapping to spread awareness about addiction resources. They’ve also used overdose response maps in Twitter campaigns to help educate the broader community.

Data like that which Bergen County is collecting is a powerful tool for helping those with addictions avoid an overdose—but it is also vital for connecting to people after a nonfatal overdose, when addiction is still a real threat. “One of the things I’m most interested in is how this information can be used to allocate resources,” says Heather Norman, an Analyst with the County’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Unit.

The New Jersey State Attorney General requires that all law enforcement naloxone administrations are reported to the State Police’s Drug Monitoring Initiative. Bergen also started recording all overdoses locally, and in May of 2017, the Bergen County Prosecutor mandated notification of suspected opioid overdoses to the Public Safety Operations Center. The dispatch center coordinates with Children’s Aid and Family Services to send recovery coaches to hospitals after overdoses. These recovery coaches are in long-term recovery themselves, and can provide vital, relatable advice during a moment of crisis.

Elaine Hernandez, the Director of Recovery Support Services at CAFS, said that they have seen over 600 people through this partnership so far. Most people that overdose are interested in further discussions, with many going into treatment right away or a few days after. While there has been a great response, Hernandez pointed out there is just too much volume to keep up. Additionally, there is a fear of losing funding for the Opioid Overdose Recovery Program to get those seeking help into immediate treatment.

Local Bergen County municipalities have also addressed the epidemic the epidemic through the HART program. Those seeking recovery can get services immediately through local police departments working in partnership with addiction treatment providers. Municipal alliances provide educational resources to local communities and host events, like in Mahwah, where healthcare professionals provide free Narcan and training to community members.

Both Bergen and Northern Larimer Counties are taking novel, people-driven approaches to respond to overdoses and the addictions that cause them. There is hope for the future, given that opioid deaths are plateauing nationally— but if we want to reduce that number, approaches that center confronting addiction with proper treatment are crucial.

If I have learned anything from mapping opioid deaths in the past few years, it is that recovery is possible. This isn’t a sentiment that we hear very often, so to counter the narrative that addiction is a dead end, a similar crowdsourced map has been started for people to share their recovery stories, with the hope that the faces populating it will soon far outgrow the number of those on the Celebrating Lost Loved Ones map.