CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A new tool is out from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) to help further fight the opioid epidemic.
The two organizations announced the launch of its interactive Overdose Data Dashboard. The dashboard highlights the impact of substance use disorder on communities and will help identify locations that would benefit from initiatives such as Quick Response Teams and drug intervention programs, per release.
According to officials, the dashboard provides statewide information that can be filtered to the county level and contains detailed statistics about the victim such as age group, month and day of the week the suspected overdose occurred, the level of medical treatment, outcome, and if naloxone was administered.
“The public can now access this important information at the touch of a button,” said Bob Hansen, ODCP Director in a release. “We encourage public health professionals, emergency service directors, hospital directors, law enforcement, drug intervention agencies, legislators, and researchers to visit the site.”
Currently, the dashboard presents information gathered electronically from DHHR’s Office of Emergency Medical Services and Hospital Emergency Departments.
According to a release, the dashboard displays the number of suspected overdose events responded to by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and the number of overdoses resulting in Emergency Room visits by county and specific hospitals.
Officials hope to have data about overdose fatalities and naloxone administration in the future.