HealtheConnections Collaborates with Westchester County to Support Opioid Response & Overdose Prevention Initiative

HealtheConnections is collaborating with the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health to launch a new weekly report of hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits involving opioid overdoses for residents of Westchester County.

The report will support the county’s Opioid Response and Overdose Prevention Initiative (ORI) by helping facilitate the identification of opioid overdose hot spots and trends and identify which communities are in greatest need of overdose support. ORI was created in response to a rise in overdose deaths in Westchester County during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Counts of hospitalizations and ED visits in the previous week will be presented by zip code, age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Once launched, the report will also be made available to other interested counties.

Since ORI was founded earlier this year, it has already materialized positive results with its other efforts. Naloxone education has been increased across the county, especially within local law enforcement departments, emergency medical services, and even across the general community. Medication Assisted Treatment has also expanded to increase access to substance use disorder treatment.

HealtheConnections is pleased to have the opportunity to support Westchester County and work collaboratively to support communities in need. We hope to leverage this work to provide this support to our other county health department participants.