Nonfatal opioid overdoses can be difficult to count

Think Out Loud

When someone overdoses on opioids, they can sometimes be brought back to life with a dose of Narcan. Often it is a friend, family member or fellow addict who is administering the lifesaving overdose reversal drug. That means, the overdose itself may never be counted by medical officials, leading to an incomplete understanding of how many people are nearly dying because of drug use. The Malheur County Health Department is trying to get a handle on the number of nonfatal overdoses taking place by using a survey. Hannah Woods, the health and promotion prevention supervisor for Malheur County, joins us to talk about the effort.