Drugs ODs are biggest killers in Martinsville and Henry County | Local News

It’s not the crack of gunfire or the screech of tires that was the biggest killer in Martinsville and Henry County in 2018. No, it’s the quiet consumption of drugs that is causing the most unnatural deaths in the city and county combined.

The Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner reports that there were six homicides and 12 motor-vehicle fatalities in Martinsville and Henry County last year.

The number of overdose deaths: 22.

“Drug deaths were the leading cause of unnatural death in Henry County and Martinsville,” Kathrin “Rosie” Hobron, statewide forensic epidemiologist for the department, wrote in an email.

In fact, the city of Martinsville had the highest rate for “all fatal drug overdoses” and of “all fatal opioid overdoses” among the more than 130 localities in Virginia.

That is according to a recent report of “all fatal drug overdoses”  and “all fatal opioid overdoses” compiled by Hobron’s department that shows how Virginia’s cities and counties compare.  For its purposes, the report, which includes data from 2007 to 2018, identifies opioids as all pharmaceutical and  illicit versions of fentanyl, heroin and one or more prescription opioids.

“All drug deaths includes any death in which one or more drugs [any substance] caused an overdose fatality,” Hobron wrote. “But not all fatal overdoses are due to opioids [there are a variety of different classes of drugs that people overdose on].

 “In 2018 statewide, 81.7% of all drug deaths were due to one or more opioids.”

In Martinsville, the actual numbers of overdose deaths — nine — may not seem so high, but the rate was astounding: 68.5 per 100,000 residents, which is the ratio by which all localities are measured.

Henry County had a higher number of deaths (13) but a much lower rate because of its greater population.

“Of the nine OD deaths in Martinsville in 2018, eight were due to one or more opioids,” Hobron said. “Five of the nine were due to fentanyl, which is a major player in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses because the drug is just so potent.

She said fentanyl — a very powerful and deadline synthetic narcotic — hadn’t been much of a factor in OD deaths in Martinsville until 2018 (there were four between 2007 and 2017).

“I would say it’s safe to assume that fentanyl is the major reason for Martinsville having the highest rate in the state for 2018,” she said.

Here are some key data for 2018 from the report:

• The city of Martinsville’s rate for fatal opioid overdoses for 2018 was 60.9 per 100,000 people.
• Henry County had 13 fatal drug overdoses (all substances), of which 10 were opioids.
• Henry County’s rate for 2018 for fatal overdoses was 25.4 per 100,000 people and 19.5 for all opioids.
• Virginia had 1,484 fatal drug overdoses, of which 1,213 were from opioids, which calculated to a rate of 17.5 per 100,000 residents (about one-fourth of Martinsville’s rate). Virginia’s rate for “all opioids” deaths was 14.3.

The report provides loads of data, including fatal overdose tables, death by locality and year: all drug deaths; benodizaepines; cocaine; fentanyl; heroin; opioids (all); prescription opioids (excluding fentanyl) and more. It’s available here.

A rising problem

Bonnie Favero, prevention director for Piedmont Community Services, wrote in an email that the West Piedmont Health District — which includes the city of Martinsville and Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties — had the highest overdose rate of visits to the emergency room in 2018 and was in the top five for several years.

“I think we’re seeing a rise in our area while some of the other areas that were higher in the past are beginning to see a decline,” she said. “I think we often see the effects of something that was higher in other parts of the state come to our area eventually.

“Opioid use is not going down in our area currently. We are still working hard to bring awareness to this issue and find new ways to prevent it.  The increase in medication assisted treatment and same-day access will begin to change these statistics for us. Because it may have been difficult to access treatment services in the past, getting the word out about services including same-day access, Medicaid expansion and additional funding sources should make a positive difference for us.”  

Hobron said that if you group Martinsville with Henry and Patrick counties, the data for overdose deaths have varied between 2007 and 2018.  Those three localities had 19, 14, 15 and 16 deaths, respectively from 2014-2017.

“In 2008 and 2013, there were a total of 25 deaths each year, which was the highest number seen in this region over the time span, and in 2018, there were 24 deaths,” she said. 

“Just like the rest of the state, opioids are the main issue in these three grouped localities, with 72.5% of all fatal overdose involving one or more opioids over the time span (2007-2018).”

She said fentanyl was key in all three areas, with nine of the 24 deaths in 2018 being from fentanyl. Before that, the largest number for those areas was five, in 2013.

Working on solutions

One of the key elements in these deaths is addiction to prescription medications, which sometimes can be the byproduct of excess prescriptions by physicians.

Heather Ashe, pharmacy director at Sovah Health, who serves as the hospital’s representative on the Drug-Free MHC Task Force, offered insights in a statement released by the hospital.

“We have significant ongoing challenges with drug abuse in our community, and these statistics sadly demonstrate the harsh reality of addiction,” she said. “Unfortunately, we see patients withdrawing and overdosing from drugs, including opioids, far too often in our hospital.

She cited community-wide efforts to tackle the problem of drug abuse and to prevent more fatal overdoses, such as training in administering the anti-overdose medication Narcan, increased drug screening and monitoring and constant reporting and monitoring of prescription dispensing by the hospital.

“Health care providers — here and nationally — are broadening the ways they treat pain, and are becoming more open and proactive about considering alternatives to pain pills,” she said.

“There are many individuals and organizations who are doing great things to combat this issue, and with continued focus and perseverance, we hope to see these numbers change for the better.”