The Tri-County Opioid Safety Coalition works with partners in the region in order to gather and report data and monitor the short-term and long-term effects of opioid use. The Coalition collects and reports weekly surveillance updates on the number of overdoses in the Tri-County region. This surveillance is to make sure that in case of an epidemic of overdoses in the region, public health leadership and Emergency Medical Responders will be able to address the epidemic accordingly.
The Coalition also collects data that monitor the short-term and long-term effects of opioids in the community so that we can track how the region is doing in terms of addressing the opioid epidemic. We currently gather data on the trends in fatal and non-fatal overdose, prescription drug use, substance use disorder treatment utilization, and pain care treatment utilization. The data briefs that we collect are updated quarterly, along with additional reports that will be posted as they are developed.