‘We’re saving lives’: Beaver County overdose deaths dropped by 50 percent in 2018 – News – Ellwood City Ledger

County officials attribute the drop in deaths to work by law enforcement and behavioral health officials.

Dave Gabauer remembers when it felt like the opioid epidemic would never end.

As Beaver County’s coroner, he and his four deputies would respond to numerous overdose death calls each week in early 2017.

“It was brutal,” Gabauer said. “Every time our phone would ring and it was the county calling, you’d wonder where this overdose death would be.”

Two years later, the calls have slowed. In 2018, 41 people died from a drug overdose, half of the number who died the previous year.

In fact, for the first time in three years, Gabauer’s office went an entire month without responding to an overdose in September 2018. He attributes the drop in deaths to the work that law enforcement and Beaver County Behavioral Health is doing.

“Law enforcement needs to be commended,” Gabauer said. “They’re out there putting their lives on the line, doing drug raids. Our district attorney has done a lot to get (naloxone) out there.”

Kate Lowery, an administrator with Beaver County Behavioral Health, said she is “cautiously optimistic” that the county is getting out in front of the epidemic.

“You see these numbers and you say, ‘OK, are we making some impact?'” Lowery said. “I really think law enforcement is really really working hard to drive some of the dealers away.”

She also notes that the availability of naloxone, the opioid antidote drug, is helping save lives.

But there’s no denying that fewer people overdosed in 2018. According to data from Beaver County Emergency Services, there were 578 overdose calls countywide in 2018. That was down from 758 the previous year, and slightly higher than the 542 calls responded to in 2016, the height of the opioid epidemic.

“We’re saving lives,” District Attorney David Lozier said. “We have treatment programs, drug diversion programs and law enforcement is pounding the ground.”

Lozier’s office is prosecuting any drug dealer who can be traced to selling drugs that resulted in an overdose death. For the past few years, that has predominantly been fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. But as his office prosecutes more drug dealers, he’s seeing fewer dealers selling fentanyl and an uptick in cocaine, which isn’t as deadly.

Gabauer agreed that there’s been changes in what drugs are being found in overdoses. He said few people are overdosing on heroin and, in 2018, no one overdosed on carfentanil, the deadly fentanyl derivative.

While the county has made strides, the epidemic isn’t over yet.

“Don’t kid yourself,’ Gabauer said. “Overdoses are still occurring. We’re just educating people and seeing ways to help them survive.”