MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Berkeley and Jefferson counties have been identified as pilot sites for a new app that can send out real time information about drug overdose rates.
“If it starts in Baltimore and you start seeing a large impact of overdoses and deaths, and then you start to see it come into Northern Virginia maybe we can start gearing up and getting the word out,” Berkeley County Recovery Resource Coordinator Kevin Knowles said during a recent edition of Panhandle Live on MetroNews affiliate WEPM in Martinsburg.
The free app can send out mass alerts, similar to Amber Alerts that could help save lives, Knowles said.
“That would go out to anybody who has that app,” Knowles said. “And hopefully the mothers, the fathers, the brothers, the sisters, the family, the friends and even the addict themselves they see it and they heed the warning.”
According to Knowles, even if one life can be saved the app would be worthwhile.
A recent test showed a minimal administrative burden on emergency responders, who would be primarily responsible for inputting data.
The eastern panhandle counties were identified as pilot sites after talks with officials from the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.