Eudora’s opioid overdose death rate is in line with those throughout the county, according to data from health officials.

Officials from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and other local organizations shared new statistics on opioid overdoses and ways they are trying to combat and prevent the issue at their first Public Health After Dark event Monday night.

From 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022, the number of overdose deaths in Douglas County increased by 42.9%, said Jonathan Smith, executive director of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.

There were 63 deaths in the earlier period and 90 more recently, said Daniel Smith, a spokesman for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.

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From 2008 to 2022, overdose deaths involving opioids accounted for two-thirds of the overdoses in the county, Jonathan Smith said.

“So tonight, what we’re here to do is talk about what we’re doing in the community to help prevent that,” he said.

Scott Johnston, an epidemiologist from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said it is important to keep the dignity of the person struggling in mind, while remembering their humanity. Substance use disorder is a complex problem and requires a broad approach to solve, he said.

“Essentially, the main thing I want to communicate to you is that when we’re talking about substance use disorder, we’re really talking about people and we’re talking about challenges that people face, a medical condition that people live with, and we can never forget the people that we’re really talking about here,” Johnston said.

From 2012 to 2021, the total number of overdose deaths in Kansas has increased 134% from 290 to 678. Synthetic opioids are a large contributor to this increase, he said. About 81% of those overdose deaths were unintentional or accidental.

From 2012 to 2021, Douglas County had 95 opioid deaths, according to death records, Johnston said. That is about 9 deaths per 100,000 people, which is roughly equivalent to the state rate, he said.

Dee Kinard, a senior analyst for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said there are similar rates of overdose deaths involving opioids across the county from 2018 to 2022. Eudora had 51, Lawrence with 50.3, Baldwin City had 50.9 and Lecompton had about 45.9.

These rates, based on a 100,000 person population, are a way of looking at areas of different sizes, meaning Eudora has a similar rate of overdoses to Lawrence if they were the same size city. For every 100,000 people, there would likely be around 50 overdose deaths involving opioids.

“So what this says to us is that all of our interventions need to touch all four corners of our county,” she said.

Drug overdoses are about 32% of unintentional injury deaths and 10% of suicides in Douglas County, Kinard said.

The highest rates of overdose deaths involving opioids are in Douglas County residents age 30 to 49 years old, followed by those 50 and up, she said. More males die of overdoses than women, she said,

The number of synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, contributing to opioid overdose deaths increased significantly in 2018 to 2022 from the previous four-year period. There were 38 synthetic opioid deaths from 2018 to 2022, and 12 from 2013 to 2017.

About 43% of all overdoses of people of color involved synthetic opioids, and 100% of deaths among people of color involved fentanyl, Kinard said. Psychostimulants like methamphetamine or cocaine were involved in half of the overdose deaths of people of color.

Bob Tryanski, director of behavioral health projects for Douglas County, said the community had a choice to get serious about improving behavioral health care.

While the challenges are daunting and statistics are sobering, there’s a lot of work going on in the community to address the issues related to behavioral health.

In the community health plan, the county has begun prioritizing prevention and working to lower the number of opioid prescriptions given out in the county. Several years ago, Douglas County had the second largest number of prescriptions for opioids, he said. There has already been a 23% decrease from 2017 to today.

The opening of the 24-hour Treatment and Recovery Center is also a step in the right direction for Douglas County, he said. Tryanski also noted the implementation of peer support programs helped increase the number of people successfully detoxing. There are four full-time recovery coaches working in the community now, he said.

“So just some examples of ways that we can get upstream and really start to tackle these issues at the local level,” he said. “It’s very sobering information.”

Lydia Fuqua, program manager at DCCCA, gave a rundown of what it is doing to help with prevention and harm reduction.

DCCCA has distributed about 23,000 Narcan kits across Kansas and filled about 800 orders for fentanyl test trips in October. The community will also be getting five kits that contain a nasal naloxone and a training video on how to use it for use within the public during emergencies.

Kyle Eichelberger, LMH Health clinical pharmacist and opioid stewardship committee, said the hospital is leading initiatives to help with multimodal pain management, helping to improve medication disposal and providing alternatives to opioids in the emergency department.

Lisa Russell, chief medical officer at Heartland Community Health Center, shared information about medication-assisted treatment. The clinic provides multiple options for those going through withdrawal or recovery, including buprenorphine and naltrexone.

“We know that somebody who has a substance use disorder can also be treated with medication, so it’s not just about willpower,” she said. “It’s not just about therapy. We know that your brain changes when you use opioids and there are medications now that can be used to help with that.”

Russell said using medication in combination with therapy is most helpful, but many do not pursue medication-assisted treatment because they may not know it’s an option.

Seeking medication-assisted treatment usually comes when a person is looking to feel normal again, not looking for a high, Russell said.

The clinic can usually make appointments the same day, but emergency walk-ins are also accepted, she said.

Smith closed out the event by saying the county cannot accomplish these changes without the help of all their partners. This is the first of many Public Health After Dark sessions to come, he said

“One overdose death is far too many in this county,” Smith said. “So I just want to thank you all for being here and helping us witness what it looks like to work not just as one department or another organization, but work together as a community to identify gaps and work to close them.”

Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]

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