Law Enforcement Officials In Deschutes County Investigating Drug Overdoses

By Meerah Powell (OPB)
Sept. 3, 2019 9:36 p.m.

Law enforcement officials in Deschutes County are investigating a spike in severe opioid overdoses.

There have been five or six severe opioid drug overdoses in Central Oregon since last Wednesday.

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They may be caused by opioids, such as heroin, being mixed with synthetic fentanyl, said Michelle Brenholdt, director of emergency services at St. Charles Health System. Though, she said, the hospital can’t test for synthetic fentanyl in its toxicology screenings.

Related: Deschutes County Sees Spike In Severe Opioid Overdoses

“We can kind of suspect it, and say the patient is presenting like this could be a synthetic fentanyl, but we can’t confirm that,” Brenholdt said.

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Brenholdt said the Central Oregon hospital system is working with the Deschutes County Health Department, which is in turn working with area law enforcement to investigate what is causing the overdoses.

“They [law enforcement] have to get ahold of the drugs that people may have taken, and that’s a little bit harder,” she said. “They have to actually test the source drug.”

Health officials initially reported a higher number of severe overdoses but have since reassessed initial suspected cases.

Regardless, Brenholdt said, the number of patients isn’t unusual — the severity of the overdoses is.

“The five-to-six cases required higher-than-normal doses of Naloxone to reverse the effect of the presumed opioid,” she said.

Naloxone is a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.

Brenholdt said other similar overdoses in the region have caused the hospital system and Deschutes County to be extra cautious.

"Medford had a similar spike in cases toward the end of June, so we've been kind of suspicious that that kind of laced heroin or laced opioid could reach us," she said. "So, we've been watching for it, because certainly that adds risk to our patients."

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