From the Orange County Newsroom
The Ninth District’s Medical Examiner’s Office released data today showing opioid overdose deaths decreased in Orange County from 2023 to 2024. The drop in deaths is a trend happening across the country.
“Accidental drug overdoses for Orange County have decreased by 30% from 2023 to 2024 while opioid related drug overdoses have decreased by 37.1% within the same time period,” said Dr. Joshua Stephany, Chief Medical Examiner for the Ninth Judicial District’s Medical Examiner’s Office.
Fatal Opioid vs Non-Opioid Overdoses by Year, Orange County, 2019-2024
Dr. Thomas Hall, Manager for the Orange County Office for a Drug-Free Community and the administrator of the Orange County Opioid Settlement Funds, says the county is working with residents who don’t typically access care. These residents include people incarcerated at the Orange County Jail.
“We identify people who are at risk for an opioid relapse or people experiencing an opioid withdrawal,” said Dr. Hall. “The Corrections Health Services Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Clinic in the Orange County Jail is making a difference in the lives of inmates seeking substance use disorder treatment. We work with those who begin MAT treatment and follow up with their care in the community when they are released.”
Dr. Hall says once patients are released from jail, they are contacted by an Opioid Navigator Team to help them continue the recovery process.
“The Opioid Navigator Teams include a Licensed Social Worker and a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist. Once a MAT patient is released, the Opioid Navigator Team meets with the patient to arrange a referral to the MAT clinic at the Orange County Medical Clinic so they can continue their care,” Dr. Hall said.
Dr. Hall added that the Opioid Navigator teams will help patients find means of support outside of the Orange County Jail to increase the likelihood of continuing their treatment.
“People with a substance use disorder that get arrested, released, and re-arrested typically do not have a stable support system,” said Dr. Hall. “That can be as simple as owning a cellphone or accessing public transportation. The teams will work to help find housing, transportation, and even cellphones to re-establish a support system that will help them continue their treatment and recovery process.”
Dr. Raul Pino, Director of Orange County Health Services, the department of the Ninth District’s Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Orange County Office for a Drug-Free Community, says people enrolled in the county’s MAT program and Navigator Services are less likely to die from an overdose within a year of their release from the Orange County Jail.
“Of the people who died from an overdose in 2023 and were released from jail within the prior 365 days, none of them were involved with our MAT Treatment program,” said Dr. Pino.
