PORT ANGELES — Overdoses from heroin and other opioid drugs — whether users survive or die — will require doctors and responders to notify the Clallam County health officer starting Jan. 1.
The county Board of Health took the step Tuesday after a brief public hearing at which one person testified.
Kenneth Reandeau of Port Angeles told board members he supported the action.
It was adopted unanimously by commissioners Jeanne LaBrecque, Mike Chapman, Bryon Monohon and Bill Peach. Members Jim McEntire and Dr. Jeannette Stehr-Green were absent, while member John Beitzel has retired.
The measure will help health officials track — and, they say, treat and prevent — addiction.
Dr. Christopher Frank, county health officer, has authority from the state to add to the list of “notifiable conditions,” which includes measles, hepatitis and others.
First in state
Clallam is the first county in Washington to add drug overdoses, although others are watching its experiment, said Iva Burks, director of the county Health and Human Services Department.
The new protocol will enable Frank to identify the substance, be it a street drug or a prescription medication like oxycodone.
In the latter case, it might help authorities identify who prescribed the drug and to whom, Frank said.
“The purpose is going to be to identify the people who have had an overdose and prevent it from recurring,” he said.
“Without understanding what’s happening in the community, it’s very hard to understand the interventions.”
Most of the reporting will fall to emergency room personnel at Forks Community Hospital and Olympic Medical Center, who will have 24 hours to report an overdose.
“Almost all of the significant overdoses funnel through the two hospitals,” Frank said.
High in heroin ODs
Clallam County is infamous for its high rate of overdoses.
According to Stehr-Green at the board’s October meeting, during the reporting period 2012-2014, the state’s death rate from opioid overdoses was 8.4 per 100,000 people.
Jefferson County’s rate was 9.7 per 100,000, while Clallam’s was 14.3 in 2013, Stehr-Green said..
Burks debunked reports that heroin use correlates with higher rates of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In Clallam County, that’s largely due to the Syringe Services program, in which addicts can exchange used needles for clean ones, not passing them along, she said.
Chlamydia rate
Areas with correlative rates of addiction and STDs have no such exchanges, according to Burks.
The most common STD in Clallam County, she said, is chlamydia, which is not spread by sharing syringes.
“It does work,” Frank said about Syringe Services on stopping the spread of diseases, including hepatitis.
Burks said the program has a nearly 100 percent rate of return of its new needles, but addicts also can buy them from pharmacies or bring them to Clallam County from other areas.
These sources, she said, account for most syringes that are found in public places.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
