An spike in overdoses has a Kansas county issuing a health alert.  There has been an alarming increase in fatal and non-fatal overdoses in Reno County, including three in a 24-hour period.

According to the Reno County Health Department, Since June 1th  there have been 15 overdoses, one of which was fatal, and four heroin overdoses requiring multiple doses of Naloxone within a period of 28 hours.

This rapid increase likely involves synthetic opioids with illicitly manufactured Fentanyl. This is also suspected to be mixed in other substances including methamphetamine, heroin, and fake pills made to look like Oxycontin.

The Reno Recovery Collaborative has a coalition focused on work to prevent, educate, and support citizens of our community who have a substance misuse disease or are family members. Thanks to the continued efforts of this group, the Reno County Health Department can collect data of the events in real time and issue alerts. They have been tracking data of suspected overdoses since October 1 which can be found on the dashboard here: https://arcg.is/Ki9OX.

Following in the steps of the CDC’s nationwide Health Alert issued December 17th, 2020, the Reno Recovery Collaborative recommends the following steps and strategies for our community on an organizational and individual level:

• Naloxone (Narcan) education, trainings, and availability https://www.dccca.org/naloxone-program/
• Encourage more people to carry naloxone (Narcan)
• Encourage members of our community who use substances to never use alone
• Check in on friends or family regularly that use substances