Thurston County Commissioner Gary Edwards is proposing redirecting public health funds toward the county coroner's office to address the increase in deaths caused by fentanyl and other opioids.
On Tuesday, Edwards raised the issue during the BoCC review of the agenda for the August 8 meeting, where there would be a motion to be presented before the commissioners about the amendment to the State of Washington Department of Health consolidated contract, adding $2,788,399 for a revised consideration of $16,518,262.
Thurston County Manager Ramiro Chavez explained that the amendment is related to allocating funds for the foundational public health for the upcoming year. He said the grants require expanding the scope of work for public health services, including infectious disease prevention and immunization promotion.
Edwards is looking for a potential solution to redirect the funds toward the coroner's office to address the surge of fentanyl-related deaths.
"All those deaths that we are having now are failures of foundational public health.” Edwards pointed out. “Autopsy costs, everything associated with the failure of our public health to protect those people that die.”
“Is there any possibility that we can utilize money like this that comes in?" inquired Edwards.
Chavez informed Edwards that the Board of Health has already made some decisions about allocating the additional money. He asked the Board to give them time to explore a viable option.
"Let us be innovative. Think outside the box and see if we can find resources elsewhere," Edwards challenged the BoCC staff.
Edwards expressed frustration about not making "a push to solve fentanyl problem that is causing real damage [resulting in many deaths]."
"I'm looking for ways to address the problem rather than just talking about it," Edwards said. "I'm done talking about problems. I want to get something moving in a direction that is solving problems."
Citing a successful response to the AIDS epidemic in the past, the commissioner recounted that the society put many resources into combating it.
"I use AIDS as an example because society made a big push to try and correct something there. They've done very well,” said Edwards. “So why can't we make that same push with this foundational public health money?"
In a March presentation at the Board of Health, County Coroner Gary Warnock reported 153 fentanyl-related deaths in 2022. He warned that overdose death would continue and keep climbing in 2023.
According to the coroner, the situation has depleted the resources of his office, primarily due to the expenses involved.
"In every case we bring in for the overdose death, the person is a candidate for autopsy. There is a lab cost," said Warnock, adding that resources are being spent on the influx of the caseload, which he said are 100% preventable.
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psterry
There has been a lot of money thrown at the opioid problem. There has been no reduction of deaths. The pipeline continues to enlarge. There is a great deal of money available for treatment, but very little money available for prevention, for going upstream to stem the tide. One has to wonder why.
Wednesday, August 2, 2023 Report this
Olywelcomesall
I appreciate the Coroner’s concern with how to manage the expenses from increasing opioid death rate. Glad too that Commissioner Edwards is finally concerned about people dying from a preventable death. He rarely supports preventive programs for such things and seems more concerned with too many dead bodies.
The county might work with other counties to bring in more funding from the pharmaceutical companies settlement and other sources. The opioid death rate is higher in neighboring Lewis and Mason Counties and in other rural counties with few resources. What are they doing to manage this crises?
Thursday, August 3, 2023 Report this
YurmaZahow
I am glad that we have at least one Commissioner who is actually trying to get something done to combat the dangerous epidemic of synthetic drugs that are killing so many people. Let's hope he can make some headway through all of the red tape that prevents effective government action.
Thursday, August 3, 2023 Report this
JJmama
I appreciate the Commissioner's focus on the Fentanyl crisis killing so many of our people--particularly and tragically the young--but I find the Coroner's office a very strange place to be putting that focus.
We need PREVENTION.
That will be the only hope to lighten the load at the Coroner's office, so let's use these $$ WISELY to help stem this tragedy occurring among us.
Thursday, August 3, 2023 Report this
ejpoleii
It is obvious to even the least informed that OD deaths are caused by taking too much of a drug, mostly fentanyl and mostly mixed with other drugs. Here's a suggestion. The coroner should prioritize autopsies by the likelihood of self-inflicted vs other-inflicted and have a reasonable time span to keep a body.
Maybe a good thing would be to RETURN unused federal funds and reduce our budget deficit a little. No wonder the US is being rated AA+ or Aaa from AAA.
Saturday, August 5, 2023 Report this