Jan 10, 2018 4 min read

On Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Tom Wolf declared a statewide disaster emergency to combat the opioid and heroin epidemic that has become a national and local crisis.

Wednesday night, at the quarterly meeting of the Washington Opioid Overdose Coalition, the coalition showed some progress is being made in Washington County in the battle against opioid addiction.

Washington County is one of only three counties in Pennsylvania that had fewer opioid deaths in 2017 than in 2016.

Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said the number of overdoses also dropped since September.

“We’re doing a lot of the things that need to be done, but there’s more that needs to be done, and we’re going to keep working on it,” said Vittone.

During Wednesday’s meeting, the coalition received a national Red Ribbon Award from the Drug Enforcement Administration for its efforts to reduce overdose deaths in Washington County.

It was one of only two Red Ribbon awards given nationally.

“Our administrators and officials from DEA saw what was being done in Washington County, and it really is a model for the rest of the country,” said Brian Dempsey of the DEA.

The opioid epidemic hit Pennsylvania hard in recent years.

The commonwealth has the fourth-highest overdose death rate in the United States. In 2017, 5,260 people in Pennsylvania died from drug overdoses in 2017, a nearly 15 percent jump over the previous year.

The Washington Opioid Overdose Coalition, formed in 2016, aims to reduce overdose deaths in the county.

The coalition created a three-year strategic plan and established five sub-committees, including anti-stigma, education and treatment to partner with other organizations, including hospitals, law enforcement and recovery groups.

Opioid deaths in Washington County dropped 12 percent in 2017, from 106 deaths in 2016 to 94 in 2017.

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said during Wednesday’s meeting the crippling heroin and opioid epidemic is the biggest priority of his office.

“It touches every family in western Pennsylvania,” he said. “I have five young sons, ages 5 to 14, and this is the thing that keeps me up at night.”

Wolf’s emergency disaster declaration – the first time in the state a disaster emergency was declared for a public health crisis – suspends some regulations that can hinder access to addiction care.

The measure allows the use of a command center at PEMA to track progress and “enhance coordination of health and public safety agencies,” according to the governor’s office.

Wolf is waiving 13 statutory regulations “that create barriers to treatment and prevention, prevent first responders and others from saving lives and reduce efficiency in our response.”

Under the measure, medics responding to overdose calls will be able to leave behind additional doses of naloxone, so drug users will be able to use it if another overdose occurs.

The declaration also waives the face-to-face requirement necessary before a physician can approve addiction treatment and forgoes licensing requirements hospitals need to open new treatment programs.

In addition, it waives a state fee for a duplicate birth certificate for homeless addicts who need one to get into treatment.

“While we have made progress in combatting the heroin and opioid abuse crisis and drastically expanded Pennsylvania’s response, we are still losing far too many Pennsylvanians,” said Wolf.

Vittone pointed out a recent study by epidemiologists that estimates approximately half a million people will die of an opioid overdose in the next 10 years.

“But,” said Cheryl Andrews, executive director of the Washington County Drug and Alcohol Commission, “we’re going to continue to strive in our little corner of the world right here to continue to deploy strategies that will not only decrease the overdose deaths but move people into recovery and keep them out of all these other systems, whether it’s jail, where it’s probation, whether it’s the health care system. We want to save the life, and then we want to make certain that the person is afforded the opportunity to the services they deserve.”

Michelle Africa, a recovering heroin addict, told those who attended the meeting how she became addicted to prescription Percocet after she was struck by a car at the age of 18. The former Pittsburgh resident struggled with her addiction to drugs, including heroin and crack, for years. She was incarcerated several times and overdosed on multiple occasions.

Africa, who now works to help others who are battling drug addiction, ended up at a halfway house in Washington County, where she implemented a plan for recovery.

“Washington has great continuing care, and that’s the piece that’s missing a lot of the time,” said Africa. “Anyone can go to rehab for 28 days, but agencies here offer that extra layer of support to help navigate through the resources that people wouldn’t know are available.”