Health News
Heroin use is reaching such high levels in Northern Kentucky that experts are calling it "a plague." The problem is so dire that local agencies are coming together to form the Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact and Response Workgroup.
Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Terry DeMio reports that the group includes leaders from St. Elizabeth Healthcare, law enforcement, addiction treatment programs, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and those who have been impacted by heroin. The goal of the group is ?to fight, treat and prevent the destructive force of heroin in our community,? said Dr. Jeremy Engel, a family doctor with St. Elizabeth Physicians, Bellevue. Engel spearheaded the effort based on his belief that heroin use in the area has hit ?epidemic? levels.
Engel points to first nine months of 2012 when St. Elizabeth Healthcare treated 311 heroin overdose patients in the emergency rooms of its five hospitals. For the same time period in 2011, the heroin overdoses presented in those emergency rooms numbered 186. With help from the chamber, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and others, Engel is forming the task force under the NKY Vision 2015 umbrella. (Read more)
- As Heroin Problem Spreads, Focus Is On Treatment And Community Efforts To Help Addicts; Needle Exchanges? Not So Much
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Heroin is a growing concern for many Kentucky communities, with much of the discussion around prevention and rehabilitation for addicts over incarceration as the most effective way to fight the problem. The Greater...
- Cdc Report Finds Heroin Use Increased By 63 Percent Since 2002, With Greatest Increases Seen Among Women And Whites
Heroin use increased 63 percent and heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled since 2002, according to a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As heroin use has increased, so have heroin-related overdose deaths....
- Poll Indicates Northern Kentucky Is Having A Heroin Epidemic
A poll indicates that Northern Kentucky is the hotbed for heroin use in the state, which has increased since the state legislature cracked down on abuse of prescription painkillers. The Kentucky Health Issues Poll, conducted Oct. 25 through Nov. 26, found...
- As Prescription Painkillers Become Harder To Get And Abuse, Heroin Replaces Them In Eastern And Southern Kentucky
Heroin use, which has been a problem in Northern and then Central Kentucky after the state began cracking down on prescription painkillers last year, has been spreading to the Southern and Eastern parts of the state. Heroin is becoming more popular throughout...
- N. Ky. Chamber To Ask State For More Funding To Fight Heroin; London Police Make First Known Heroin Trafficking Arrests There
The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is planning to lobby the state for more funding for heroin treatment after receiving reports from business and law enforcement about the breadth and depth of the drug problem in the region. Terry DeMio of...
Health News
Northern Kentucky group forms in response to what some consider 'epidemic' of heroin use in their area
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| Ashel Kruetzkamp with a vial of Naloxone HCl, used to treat those who overdose on heroin. (Photo by Patrick Reddy) |
Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Terry DeMio reports that the group includes leaders from St. Elizabeth Healthcare, law enforcement, addiction treatment programs, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and those who have been impacted by heroin. The goal of the group is ?to fight, treat and prevent the destructive force of heroin in our community,? said Dr. Jeremy Engel, a family doctor with St. Elizabeth Physicians, Bellevue. Engel spearheaded the effort based on his belief that heroin use in the area has hit ?epidemic? levels.
Engel points to first nine months of 2012 when St. Elizabeth Healthcare treated 311 heroin overdose patients in the emergency rooms of its five hospitals. For the same time period in 2011, the heroin overdoses presented in those emergency rooms numbered 186. With help from the chamber, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and others, Engel is forming the task force under the NKY Vision 2015 umbrella. (Read more)
- As Heroin Problem Spreads, Focus Is On Treatment And Community Efforts To Help Addicts; Needle Exchanges? Not So Much
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Heroin is a growing concern for many Kentucky communities, with much of the discussion around prevention and rehabilitation for addicts over incarceration as the most effective way to fight the problem. The Greater...
- Cdc Report Finds Heroin Use Increased By 63 Percent Since 2002, With Greatest Increases Seen Among Women And Whites
Heroin use increased 63 percent and heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled since 2002, according to a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As heroin use has increased, so have heroin-related overdose deaths....
- Poll Indicates Northern Kentucky Is Having A Heroin Epidemic
A poll indicates that Northern Kentucky is the hotbed for heroin use in the state, which has increased since the state legislature cracked down on abuse of prescription painkillers. The Kentucky Health Issues Poll, conducted Oct. 25 through Nov. 26, found...
- As Prescription Painkillers Become Harder To Get And Abuse, Heroin Replaces Them In Eastern And Southern Kentucky
Heroin use, which has been a problem in Northern and then Central Kentucky after the state began cracking down on prescription painkillers last year, has been spreading to the Southern and Eastern parts of the state. Heroin is becoming more popular throughout...
- N. Ky. Chamber To Ask State For More Funding To Fight Heroin; London Police Make First Known Heroin Trafficking Arrests There
The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is planning to lobby the state for more funding for heroin treatment after receiving reports from business and law enforcement about the breadth and depth of the drug problem in the region. Terry DeMio of...