Rapid Alert Reports on Non-Fatal Overdoses Impacting Public Safety and Public Health Awareness
In collaboration with the Mississippi State Department of Health, the Mississippi (MS) ORS team develops products to inform public health and public safety groups on how to best allocate overdose prevention and drug trafficking intervention resources. In 2021, Mississippi experienced approximately 788 fatal overdoses (1). This significant number reflected the need for timely reporting of […]
Naloxone Boxes Installed in Bucks County, PA
Counties are looking for innovative ways to ensure easy, quick and convenient access to naloxone for people who use drugs in their communities. Public health leaders are working with law enforcement partners to identify community locations to place naloxone boxes with assistance from the Pennsylvania Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) Public Health Analyst (PHA) and Drug […]
Everyone Campaign Billboard
The North Florida ORS team regularly partners with key stakeholders to raise drug-related awareness and reduce substance use and overdose. Due to the lack of fentanyl awareness within the team’s area of responsibility, the PHA and DIO collaborated with Project Opioid Jax and Community Coalition Alliance (CCA) to facilitate and share a billboard campaign in […]
Multi-Sector Collaboration
Aiming to increase access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and reduce overdose deaths, the Maryland (MD) ORS team serves as part of a coalition of stakeholders working to resolve this issue in Maryland. There have been reports from treatment providers throughout the state experiencing barriers with their clients obtaining their buprenorphine prescriptions at […]
Monterey County Overdose Awareness Symposium
Noting an upward trend in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2021, the Northern CA ORS team identified a need to bring overdose awareness throughout the community and engage in collaborative efforts across the public health and safety sector. On International Overdose Awareness Day, August 31, 2022, local partners and agencies convened at the Monterey County Overdose […]
Implementation of Testing
One of the goals of the ORS is to support evidence-based response efforts to reduce overdose deaths by utilizing drug-related data. Historically, within the state of Vermont, there was no specific testing conducted on the substances being used within the state. Samples that were seized by law enforcement were typically only tested if a prosecution was […]
Prescription Drug Disposal from Schools
In South Carolina (SC), the ORS team facilitated a cross-sector collaboration to ameliorate a drug disposal issue and ultimately, reduce the chances of overdose. At the end of the school year, school nurses in the state attempted to return unused prescriptions to parents and/or guardians; however, not all medications were picked up by families. School […]
Fentanyl and Naloxone Distribution on White Mountain Apache Tribe
The Arizona (AZ) ORS team prioritizes the importance of implementing evidence-based prevention strategies and response efforts to reduce overdose deaths on tribal land. Tribal communities represent one of the minority groups that are disproportionately affected by overdose, which emphasizes the need for increased overdose prevention education and training. Although it is difficult to present on […]
19 New Agencies Onboarded to ODMAP
The Kansas (KS) ORS team spearheads the recruitment of key public health and public safety stakeholders across their state into the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP). To accomplish this goal, the KS ORS team presented to communities that have expressed interest in using real-time overdose data and used data directly from ODMAP to portray […]