Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | January 6, 2020 | wbjournal.com Worcester County is among the few nationally to be hit by the opioid crisis on all three fronts Fighting a three-part syndemic BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor F irst came a wave of prescription opioids, hitting Worcester County by the tens of millions leading up to a deadly epidemic sweeping locally and across the country. Heroin became widespread next. e street drug was found in more than two thirds of opioid-related deaths across the state in 2014 and 2015, just as opioid deaths were about to peak, according to Massachusetts Department of Public Health data. en came fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. Lately, it's been found in 90% or more of opioid deaths in Massachusetts. Health officials have had a challenge meeting any one of these three opioid classifications. In Worcester County, though, that task is especially daunting. e county is one of three counties in Massachusetts and eight across New England to be hit by the broadest array of opioids: prescription opioids, heroin, and prescription–synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. ese findings, published in the journal Rural Sociology, shows how wide-ranging the opioid epidemic has become in places like Worcester County. Data has shown prescription opioids flooded into cities like Worcester, Gardner and Athol in the years leading up to a spike in opioid-related deaths, and since then, the number of overdose deaths including fentanyl has soared. With such strong opioids in patients' systems, health providers now have a more complicated task in treating those who've overdosed. "Oen, one dose of Narcan is not enough," said Dr. Melis- sa Buchner-Mehling, the med- ical director of advisory services at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, referring to the brand of an overdose antidote. Rare company Only a tiny share of more than 3,000 counties nationally hit what researchers called a syndemic, meaning it suffered from epidemics of all three types of opioid crises. In Massachusetts, Worcester County was joined by Hampden County, which includes Springfield, and Berkshire County on the New York border. Only five other counties in New England made the syndemic distinction, all in Connecticut, including Windham County, which is part of the Worcester metropolitan area. Connecticut – which had only three counties not includ- ed in the worst category – isn't the only state hit so hard by all three opioid challenges. So, too, is Maryland, with 12 of its 20 counties put by the Rural Sociology study into the category of a syndemic. Most of the other counties determined Dr. Kavita Babu, UMass Memorial Medical Center Dr. Melissa Buchner-Mehling, the medical director of advisory services at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, has not seen enough progress yet in the fight against opioid addiction.

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