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County Executive Hopes Task Force Will Further Aid In Opioid Fight

George Borrello

Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello hopes the decline in drug related deaths and drug overdose deaths this year can be further decreased by continued collaborative efforts throughout the county.

At a Chautauqua County Community Justice Council meeting in February, Borrello announced the creation of the new drug task force, the Countywide Alliance for Enforcement and Rehabilitation (CAER), tasked with combating the opioid crisis and other drug related use he has repeatedly described as an “epidemic.” The task force is an effort to streamline communication and collaboration specifically targeting the drug use in the county.

The County Health and Human Services estimates there will be at least a 12 percent decrease in overdose deaths in 2018 from 2017. Borrello didn’t have a definitive answer as to why the drug-related deaths and overdoses decreased from last year after a 3-year period of a steady increase. He speculated that education and prevention played a large role.

“That’s just my preliminary thoughts on what’s leading to that decline,” he said.

He believes people are more educated and more aware of the side effects of opioid use. Borrello told The Post-Journal a story about a friend’s daughter who chose not to use prescribed opioid medication after having surgery. He said the youth is more aware of side effects from various anti-opioid campaigns throughout the county.

“I think more and more people are aware of the addictive nature of these pain medications they’re all too willing to prescribe,” he said.

CAER will have a better understanding of the reduced drug-related deaths and drug-overdose deaths in mid-October, Borrello said. He said the task force will have more time to get a grasp on what the data is showing. “We are preparing to put together a first report on our findings and some recommendations going forward,” he said.

So far in 2018 there have been 10 drug-related deaths, 8 drug overdose deaths and 14 pending investigations.

“Right now, I would say were doing a better job of education and prevention,” Borrello said.

Without having any empirical data, Borrello said education and prevention was the long-term solution to combating the opioid epidemic.

The county executive remained reticent to say definitively what the leading factor could be.

He even said 2018’s estimated decrease could quite possibly be an anomaly. Another possible factor could be the increased amount of law enforcement officers and first responders readily equipped with naloxone units torevive individuals who have overdosed.

“We’re still getting our arms around the data,” he said.

As for CAER, Borrello noted that the program is still in the information gathering stage. He hopes the task force will narrow down what the contributing factors to the current decline are and then expand upon them.

The task force is made up of three sub-committees: prevention and education, treatment and law enforcement. Each subcommittee is made up of various organizations ranging in size and scale throughout the county. Tom Tarpley, coordinator of CAER and retired police officer, previously told The Post-Journal the task force would be looking at current procedures and services to determine if they are the most effective and if changes are needed.

The prevention and education committee is made up of superintendents from the largest school districts and other organizations including Jamestown, Fredonia, Dunkirk, Southwestern, Cassadaga and Erie-2 BOCES; Chautauqua County Department of Health; Chautauqua Alcohol & Substance Abuse Council.

The treatment committee is made up of the Mental Health Association, the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Health, Chautauqua County Department of Health, Chautauqua County Public Defenders Office, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, UPMC WCA Hospital and Dr. Lillian Ney.

The law enforcement sub-committee is comprised of various law enforcement agencies including the Westfield Police Department, Fredonia Police Department, Dunkirk Police Department, Jamestown Police Department, Lakewood-Busti Police Department, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, Ellicott Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office.

“All the data doesn’t matter if we don’t have a practical approach,” he said referring to the data analysis and the upcoming recommendation and implementation.

Borrello believed the key to continuing a steady decline in drug overdose deaths will be through collaboration among county organizations.

“I’m very happy and humbled by the collaborative efforts,” he said of CAER’s work thus far.

While Borrello noted that the estimated decline of deaths is significant, he maintained that one death is still far too many. The Chautauqua County Community Justice Council, the committee where Borrello announced CAER, will hold its next meeting on Wednesday.

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