A person displays a commemorative Adult Drug Treatment Court graduation coin that reads, “I came with hope, worked and learned. I have a new life. A life that I’ve earned.” (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

A person displays a commemorative Adult Drug Treatment Court graduation coin that reads, “I came with hope, worked and learned. I have a new life. A life that I’ve earned.” (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

An emergency response yields progress fighting drug overdoses

Officials last year declared the opioid crisis an emergency on par with a natural disaster.

EVERETT — A year ago, local leaders declared opioid overdoses an emergency — a deadly crisis on par with an earthquake or some other natural disaster.

That meant marshaling government forces throughout Snohomish County: police and paramedics, medical professionals and social workers.

Since then, there’s been progress, though much unfinished work remains.

The multi-agency effort is credited with helping train hundreds of people to save lives with overdose-reversal drugs; to slash toxicology turnaround times, giving families and detectives answers after deaths; and to secure millions of dollars for a job-training program tailored toward addicts and people struggling with homelessness.

“We know our efforts to save people and give them a second chance are working,” County Executive Dave Somers said. “The key to the (Multi-Agency Coordination) group is that we’re not just doing human services. … There’s a law enforcement component. We’re trying to stop the flow of illegal drugs. At the same time, we’re trying to help the people who can and will be helped.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Somers signed an emergency directive on Thursday to extend the countywide action another year. It puts the county’s Department of Emergency Management in charge of coordinating overdose-prevention across agencies that otherwise might not keep in close contact.

It’s yielded better teamwork and better information, on where overdoses are happening, what drugs are involved and who’s seeking help.

“It surprised me … our counts showed that about 60 percent of the people we encounter who are struggling with addiction are actually in housing,” Somers said. “At least part of this problem is people who are with families or in housing. That’s a much higher number than I would have thought.”

Despite some encouraging news, the crisis won’t go away anytime soon.

In 2017, 100 people died in Snohomish County by overdosing on heroin, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, or prescription painkillers, according to the Snohomish Health District. This year, another 70 opioid-related overdose deaths were recorded through the end of September. The emergency room at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett reported 464 overdose patients over the same period.

The Medical Examiner’s office noted that the youngest overdose fatality so far this year was 17, the oldest 87.

“For every person that our firefighters and paramedics help, there is a complex story that needs an entire community’s response,” South County Fire Chief Bruce Stedman said in a prepared statement.

Sheriff’s deputies have started using an app to map where overdoses are happening, said Shari Ireton, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman. Deputies type in the patient’s gender, location and whether the person survived. It provides information that, in conjunction with quicker toxicology turnaround times, allows the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force to act more quickly.

“We’re now starting to get a better picture,” Ireton said. “We’re sharing the data and starting to see how this is impacting all segments of our community. When you’re informed, you can make better decisions.”

Police and social workers are now working side-by-side throughout much of the county.

Those teams have referred 347 people to a diversion center that opened next to the jail this spring, Ireton said. The 44-bed facility is intended as a launching pad where people who had been living in homeless encampments can stay for a couple of weeks to connect to longer-term services. Of those referrals, 142 entered treatment and 46 now have housing, she said.

Snohomish County’s opioid response also has helped:

The Medical Examiner’s Office reduce toxicology turnaround times in fatal overdoses to 12 days on average from 15 weeks. The information helps answer family members’ questions and is useful to law enforcement in tracking illegal drugs.

More than 800 people take a one-hour first-aid course designed by South County Fire & Rescue that focuses on using naloxone to reverse an overdose, among other life-saving techniques.

Workforce Snohomish secure a $2.4 million grant to develop a program to help people struggling with substance abuse and homelessness find jobs.

Distribute more than 1,000 needle clean-up kits and 500 lock bags designed to keep prescriptions secure.

Connect more than 3,600 at-risk students and their families to behavioral health and other services.

Train staff at 14 Snohomish County-supported senior centers to safely handle and dispose of prescription drugs.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Visit www.snohomishoverdoseprevention.com to learn more about local efforts to combat opioid abuse.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Vehicles travel along Mukilteo Speedway on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Mukilteo cameras go live to curb speeding on Speedway

Starting Friday, an automated traffic camera system will cover four blocks of Mukilteo Speedway. A 30-day warning period is in place.

Carli Brockman lets her daughter Carli, 2, help push her ballot into the ballot drop box on the Snohomish County Campus on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Here’s who filed for the primary election in Snohomish County

Positions with three or more candidates will go to voters Aug. 5 to determine final contenders for the Nov. 4 general election.

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

Women hold a banner with pictures of victims of one of the Boeing Max 8 crashes at a hearing where Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III testified at the Rayburn House Building on June 19, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
DOJ plans to drop Boeing prosecution in 737 crashes

Families of the crash victims were stunned by the news, lawyers say.

First responders extinguish a fire on a Community Transit bus on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Snohomish, Washington (Snohomish County Fire District 4)
Community Transit bus catches fire in Snohomish

Firefighters extinguished the flames that engulfed the front of the diesel bus. Nobody was injured.

Signs hang on the outside of the Early Learning Center on the Everett Community College campus on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett Community College to close Early Learning Center

The center provides early education to more than 70 children. The college had previously planned to close the school in 2021.

Northshore school board selects next superintendent

Justin Irish currently serves as superintendent of Anacortes School District. He’ll begin at Northshore on July 1.

Auston James / Village Theatre
“Jersey Boys” plays at Village Theatre in Everett through May 25.
A&E Calendar for May 15

Send calendar submissions for print and online to features@heraldnet.com. To ensure your… Continue reading

Contributed photo from Snohomish County Public Works
Snohomish County Public Works contractor crews have begun their summer 2016 paving work on 13 miles of roadway, primarily in the Monroe and Stanwood areas. This photo is an example of paving work from a previous summer. A new layer of asphalt is put down over the old.
Snohomish County plans to resurface about 76 miles of roads this summer

EVERETT – As part of its annual road maintenance and preservation program,… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.