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Combating heroin overdoses appears to pay off in Washington County

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Some of those in attendance at the Washington opioid overdose coalition meeting Wednesday converse at Courthouse Square.

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Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

Michelle Africa of Canonsburg shares her survival story during the Washington opioid overdose coalition meeting Wednesday at Courthouse Square.

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A group discussion is held Wednesday during the Washington opioid overdose coalition meeting at Courthouse Square.

Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone vowed to make the heroin epidemic a top priority when he took office in 2012.

His efforts, which include a three-prong approach, appear to be paying off as the number of heroin and other opioid overdose death investigations began to drop last year to the point that one such death was recorded in December, the first in more than a month.

“Maybe what we’re doing is working,” Vittone said the week before Christmas, when there hadn’t been a drug overdose death in the county in nearly a month. “It’s too early to tell.”

The one heroin overdose death last month happened Dec. 31, after the county had gone 33 days without one, Vittone said.

“December has been quiet,” said Matt Yancosek, the county’s chief deputy coroner.

The year ended with 97 drug overdose deaths, 75 of which involved the use of heroin or fentanyl, he said. It was 12 fewer overdose deaths than were recorded in 2016.

The number of drug overdose calls to Washington County 911 also dropped from 89 in August to 14 the week before Christmas, according to Vittone’s records. Eight suspected drug overdose deaths in the county were pending a ruling from Coroner Tim Warco and the results of toxicology tests.

Newly elected Greene County Coroner Gene Rush said he did not know if a similar trend was seen in that county last year, but would be able to provide a report on the number of overdose deaths at the end of the month.

Vittone credits the decline to a coalition of people from many walks of life who have worked since October 2016 to address the opioid crisis on a local level.

He said he wasn’t initially sold on forming such a committee.

“We had had meetings with everyone and summits all of the time,” he said.

The summits included many speakers, including former U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton in Pittsburgh, yet the deaths continued to climb.

“I was of the mindset of, ‘I’m tired of talking about it. The last thing we need to have is another summit,'” Vittone said.

He admits he was wrong more than a year ago when Cheryl Andrews, executive director of Washington Drug & Alcohol Commission, approached him about forming the coalition.

The group is made up of representatives from Vittone’s office, the bar association, faith-based organizations, government, addicts in recovery and the county’s Children and Youth Services, jail and legal aid organization, among others.

Its members have been analyzing data and other evidence in making recommendations.

“I don’t know what we’d do without them,” Vittone said.

His office also has partnered on heroin investigations with the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh, which has appointed the county’s deputy assistant district attorney, Jerry Moschetta, as an assistant U.S. attorney.

While Moschetta is prohibited from discussing his role in Pittsburgh, the partnership has resulted in 21 arrests of suspected mid-to-high-level drug dealers, Vittone said.

The partnership has been successful enough for the U.S. attorney’s office to consider forming them in other counties, said Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady in Pittsburgh.

“We’re aggressively going after high-level dealers, and we’re able to use that tool to get that hammer down in the Mon Valley,” said Dennis Paluso, first assistant district attorney in Washington County.

Among the federal cases was the conviction in early December of Maurice Frezzell, 34, of Monessen, for dealing heroin. He has a lengthy criminal history and has been scheduled for sentencing April 17 before U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab. The prosecution said additional drug charges are pending against Frezzell.

Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office has been seeing results from its program involving the use by police and firefighters of the drug Naloxone to rapidly revive overdose victims.

First responders have administered 280 doses of the opioid antidote since that program began June 29, 2015. That effort has saved 255 lives, Vittone said.

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