In an effort to fight the county’s opioid crisis more
comprehensively, County Executive Dave Somers has ordered partial activation of
the county’s Emergency Coordination Center. The center, as part of the county’s
Department of Emergency Management, is normally activated for natural disasters
such as major earthquakes, floods and fires. Activating the coordination center
will allow better coordination between local agencies such as the Sheriff’s
Office, Department of Health, Public Works, Human Services as well as the
county’s cities.
At a press conference that was streamed online, County
Executive Dave Somers, County Health Officer Dr. Mark Beatty and Sheriff Ty
Trenary all described a serious situation that requires many disciplines to
control.
Numbers portray the problem. The emergency room at
Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett has treated 688 overdose cases
through August of this year. In 2016, there were 90 overdose deaths in
Snohomish County. 13 of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl or other
synthetic drugs. Statewide in 2016, there were 694 fatal opiate overdoses.
Over one weekend last month, the county Medical Examiner
reported 7 suspected overdose deaths. In the first six months of this year
there have been 8 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. And
according to Dr. Beatty, the Everett needle exchange is on track to collect
over 2 million needles this year.
Comments from the three officials emphasized that the county
needs to develop a multi-disciplined approach to reduce the damage of the
opioid/heroin crisis. Dr. Beatty said that we need to change how we think about
the problem. Opioid addiction is not a failure of will, it is a disease that
may be influenced by some people’s genetics. The county needs to protect the
community from harm; that includes from crime caused by addiction and the
health dangers from the addiction itself. The county needs to treat the
addicted but also it needs to prevent the addiction.
Sheriff Trenary said that the addiction problem is all over
the county, not just in certain areas. He feels that the crisis has some ties
to homelessness as well as an individual’s mental health. He said that "Letting
people die is not a solution.”
Both Dr. Beatty and Sheriff Trenary pointed out that there
are not enough services in the county to treat the addicted. Often, when the
Office of Neighborhood’s outreach teams, which consist of deputies and embedded
social workers, find people who want help, it might take a few days to
coordinate help. This often requires putting the person wanting help, the
client, in a hotel room. Also, the social workers are often going out of the
county and out of the state to find the services that the client needs. One
goal that Sheriff Trenary has is to convert an old work release facility into
40 beds where clients can stay while the embedded social workers find help.
County Executive Somers said that "Punishment doesn't
work." Dr. Beatty concluded that it is a community problem and the
community needs to take action to fix it.
The partial activation is called the Opioid Response Multi-Agency
Coordination Group (MAC). The county has set seven goals for the group:
1.
Reduce opioid misuse and abuse;
2.
Lessen the availability of opioids;
3.
Reduce criminal activity associated with opioids;
4.
Use data to detect, monitor, evaluate, and act;
5.
Reduce collateral damage to the communities;
6.
Provide information about the response in a timely and
coordinated manner; and
7.
Ensure the availability of resources that efficiently
and effectively support response efforts.
The health district has created a “one stop” web site on
opioids for people who want more information or who want help with their own
opioid addiction. That web site can be found at http://snohomishoverdoseprevention.com/.
Snohomish County:
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