By Sheryl Krieg
The News-Sentinel
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Several local agencies and organizations met to discuss the opioid crisis facing this county and how they’re tackling the epidemic that has gripped its users.
Representatives from the Fort Wayne Police Department, Fort Wayne Fire Department, the medical field and community leaders gathered together Friday at Calhoun Street Soups, Salads and Spirits to discuss heroin and synthetic opiates like fentanyl and their effect here locally.
As laws have changed recently to control the amount of painkillers doctors can prescribe their patients, these patients are turning to heroin to fill the gap, primarily because it is cheap and easy to purchase, according to Fort Wayne Police Department Capt. Kevin Hunter, who is head of the Vice & Narcotics Division and is a member of the Opiate Task Force.
While oxycontin costs about $30 a pill, a dose of heroin — or about 1/10th of a gram — costs only $15 to $20. The synthetic opiate fentanyl only adds to the nationwide epidemic that has resulted in 700 overdoses and 71 confirmed overdose deaths this year — as of last week — and which continues to climb daily. Hunter said while the overdose deaths are not limited to opiates such as heroin or fentanyl, typically more than one drug is found in the bloodstream.
In 2015, heroin was leading cause of accidental death, he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I don’t think it’s peaked yet,” Hunter said. “Hopefully, we can get a handle on this.”
Andrea Schroeder is a mother who never thought her daughter would be one of the statistics quoted by Hunter on Friday. Her daughter, Miriah Herport died Oct. 29 after a heroin overdose. As Miriah was going through a rough period in her life, she was reacquainted with an old friend in May who also was a heroin user. By July, Schroeder noticed something was wrong with her daughter. In October, Herport overdosed and died after a week on life support, proving heroin affects all ages and all faces.
Dr. Daniel Roth, a chronic pain and addiction specialist at Summit Pain Management, lent a medical perspective into the epidemic that has increased the number of Hepatitis C and HIV cases in Indiana, leading the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health to recently implement a syringe service program (SSP) — a needle exchange program — which has been proven to reduce the number of Hepatitis C and HIV cases in other counties.
The department holds an SSP clinic 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays at 519 Oxford St. Department spokesperson Megan Reust said, “It’s all about building trust. There aren’t going to be repercussions if they seek help.”
Fort Wayne Fire Department Assistant Chief Doug Call spoke about the success firefighters have had using naxolone, or Narcan, which reverses the overdose effect on victims since August 2015. As of Dec. 1, the department has administered the drug 113 times.
Call emphasized NARCAN is only used on unresponsive, unconscious patients with depressed respirations. “Our patients are pretty critical,” he said. Patients have been known to wake up and be responsive within a minute.
While Call stressed not all cardiac arrests can be reversed, he said this is one area firefighters can see positive results immediately.
Copyright 2016 The News-Sentinel