Opiates have significant impact on Ashtabula County

Jul. 1—Ashtabula County has certainly felt the impact of the opioid crisis.

Ashtabula County Commissioner Kathryn Whittington currently serves as the interim executive director of the OneOhio Foundation.

"What led me here was the burglary of our home, in 2013, our house was burglarized," she said. "Ultimately, as I went through the process, I knew there needed to be change in our community. The epidemic was plaguing the community. We were seeing huge overdoses and fatalities, but the crime rate was really headed up."

Seeing the rising crime rate and going through the process following the burglary led Whittington to run for office.

"You can either sit back and complain about things, or you can help make decisions to change that," she said.

Whittington speaks nationally on opioid issues, she said.

"I spoke last week in Florida, I've done regional seminars on the opiate topic," Whittington said.

Whittington said OneOhio is working on getting the infrastructure in place to accept grant requests. The foundation, which was formed in 2021 in the wake of a settlement with opioid distributors, will receive 55 percent of funds from opioid settlements, with 30 percent of the funds going to local governments and the remaining 15 percent going to the state. OneOhio will use the settlement funds to provide grants for local and statewide recovery from the crisis.

"We (recently) signed the contract with the software company, for the grants," she said. "So we are just now starting meetings to build out the software that the regions will have the applications put the grant applications in. This could take several months, for the buildout ... before we can go live."

OneOhio divides the state into 19 regions, which are currently in the process of setting up their infrastructure, Whittington said.

"We have some that are further along than others, but they are not ready to submit RFPs out to the communities yet, either," she said. "So everybody is still in process. They were waiting for us to complete the grant policy and a sample grant application and the RFP template." The regions were going to use those samples from the state organization, instead of reinventing the wheel, she said.

"Though we've made great progress, we're still not even to a place for the RFPs to go out," Whittington said. "We're hoping RFPs from the regions will go out in October, but that's tentative, based on training, software implementation."

OneOhio is also finalizing its executive director search, she said. The search is ongoing, and once the field is narrowed to three candidates, the OneOhio Board and Gov. Mike DeWine will make a final choice, Whittington said.

The OneOhio foundation, the state, and local governments will receive 18 payments over 18 years from a settlement with opioid distributors.

Whittington said she expects the the settlement funds to have a large impact on the opioid crisis.

"The fact that we will be able to save lives, the fact that we will be able to help those in getting the resources and programming that they need," she said. "I think it'll fill gaps in communities, to help that continuum of care. I think this settlement, for Ohio, is going to be life-changing, and I really do believe that the foundation, and getting this infrastructure, though it's taking time to build it out, I think will be something that other states will look at as a leader in how our opiate settlement dollars are being distributed."

Data will be collected to see the impact grants are having, Whittington said.

Lieutenant Cary Nelson, commander of the Crime Enforcement Agency of Ashtabula County, said in 2022, there were 32 fatal overdoses in the county last year, and CEAAC handled 17 in the unincorporated areas of the county.

Nelson said it is difficult to track the exact number of overdoses because people will administer Narcan to friends or family members who have overdosed.

"If they can revive themselves, they don't call us," Nelson said. "So you really have no concept of the true numbers out there."

Nelson said the number of overdoses are down so far this year, but it fluctuates from year to year.

Ashtabula County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Terry Moisio said opiate use has a heavy impact on families and social service agencies, trying to help people with addictions.

Moisio said the department uses a significant amount of naloxone, a nasal spray that can revive someone suffering from an overdose.

"Sometimes it's more than one dose, sometimes it's two or three," he said. In extreme cases, EMTs will have to use an IV to administer the drug as well.

Some people who are administered naloxone then refuse further treatment, Moisio said.

There are a variety of resources available in the county providing services to those with addiction issues, he said.

"It's a community effort, between law enforcement and community partners, there's no way around it," Moisio said.

Numerous additional providers have have opened in the county in recent years, he said. Dual diagnosis issues, of addiction and mental health issues, are a significant factor in the problem.

"That's what is impacting the communities," Moisio said.

Ashtabula County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board Executive Director Miriam Walton said there are a lot of things going on in the county, and a lot of expanded services that have helped law enforcement and healthcare providers help those struggling with opioid addiction.

The county has been able to get grant funds to help add services in the county, she said.

"Things like, we've expanded recovery housing," Walton said. The county has gone from having two recovery houses to having multiple houses, including specialized facilities, she said.

"We know folks need those long-term supports once they come out of treatment," Walton said.

This year, the quick response team has responded to 88 overdoses, Walton said.

"Over time, our overdoses have been going down," she said.

There are a variety of different reasons for that, including an increase in people going to treatment, the efforts of law enforcement to get illegal drugs off the streets, and a vast increase in the board's naloxone distribution program.

"Part of that has also been working with partners, so it's not just us, it's all of our treatment providers, it's the health department," Walton said. "The county health department gets a supply of naloxone and gets it out there. We've been able to get naloxone throughout Community Counseling centers, Signature Health, Lake Erie Recovery Centers, getting it out at area community events, like, the health department was giving it out at RAM, which was awesome. They were able to give out a lot of kits there."

A number of public venues also now have naloxboxes, which contain naloxone and other emergency equipment to help treat someone who is overdosing, she said.

"It's just rescue equipment, and hopefully also a way to break the stigma around naloxone, so folks see it more as, this is just a lifesaving measure, just like using an AED on someone," Walton said.

MHRS staff were very excited when they did their first naloxone distribution and gave out around 100 kits, she said.

"In state fiscal year 2022, ... we distributed, what we know of, ... 1,212 naloxone kits," Walton said, "So far in state fiscal year 2023, we've given out 2,589 kits." That data doesn't include information from this month, the last month of the state's fiscal year.

"I know some people have mixed feelings about naloxone, I think we all did when we started, but to me, naloxone is just like EMS folks coming in when somebody's in diabetic distress and they need a shot of insulin, and then they take them to the hospital to get further treatment," she said. "To us, naloxone is something that you do to save somebody's life, in order to get them to treatment. It's not the end-all, it's not the end point here, it's the beginning, which is why our quick response team then also goes out and talks to people after they've been through something like this."

The quick response team is made up of a plain clothes police officer and a staff member from a treatment provider.

"They go out weekly, at least once a week, sometimes twice a week, depending on the overdoses that we learn about," Walton said. "And they just knock on doors, talk to people, say "hey, we're here to help, do you need some help? We can help break down barriers to get you into treatment. Do you have transportation barriers? Do you just not know where to go? Were you in treatment and you relapsed? We can help you get back into treatment.' Just kind of have a conversation."

The team also speaks to family members as well, and leaves resources and information for people struggling with substance use disorders, she said.

Walton said the police officer is not there to arrest anyone.

"The law enforcement folks have been awesome to work with, they really have a passion, the officers that are on the team, for helping folks get into treatment, because that's all of our ultimate goal, treatment and recovery," she said.

Walton said anyone seeking treatment can visit the MHRS website, www.ashtabulamhrs.org, to find information about various entities around the area that can provide treatment.