Drug overdose patients rushed to some emergency rooms in New York's Hudson Valley are asked a series of questions: Do you have stable housing? The information is entered into a new overdose-tracking system that provides near real-time glimpses into the ravages of the opioid-fueled drug crisis.
1 / 5Tracking OverdosesIn this Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019 photo, pedestrians pass at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh, N.Y. The hospital adopted the Hudson Valley Interlink Analytic System earlier this year, which tracks drug overdoses in New York. The system is among a number of surveillance systems being adopted around the country by police, government agencies and community groups. ALBANY, N.Y.
“We can't get ahead of a situation that’s already passed. This kind of information has to be given almost instantaneously or else the narcotics that we’re trying to track have already been sold, and they’re already on to the next batch,” said Sgt. Julio Fernandez of the New York National Guard's Counterdrug Task Force, which helped usher in the system.
The idea is to “get that information out there as efficiently and as quickly as we can,” said Daniel Maughan, a senior vice president at St. Luke’s. Participation by patients is voluntary. If someone is unresponsive or unwilling to answer questions, workers enter the data that’s available. Kathy Sheehan, director of emergency and trauma services at St. Luke’s, said many patients cooperate, though there are just as many others who are not willing to speak.Around the country, workers on the front lines of the opioid crisis are looking to speedier data access as part of their prevention strategy.
The most ubiquitous surveillance system is the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, or ODMAP. The system allows first responders and others to enter data on suspected overdoses, including locations, times, naloxone dosages, victim ages and suspected drugs. The system designed by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in the Washington/Baltimore area sends out spike alerts to police and other agencies. Launched as a pilot in January 2017, it is now in 48 states.
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