Health officials note increase in overdoses as New Year’s celebrations loom

ALBANY – Officials with the Southwest Health District are cautioning that New Year’s Eve’s emphasis on celebrating and good cheer can increase the current spike in overdoses.

“Overdoses are drastically increasing in Dougherty County,” Phyllis Rolle, Public Health Opioid Use Prevention Analyst with the Southwest Health District, said in a news release. “The organization is tracking the upward trend based on data provided by the local Emergency Medical Service (EMS).

“A bright spot is that fatal overdoses can be prevented if you seek medical treatment in a timely manner.”

Often, individuals fail to seek medical treatment or call 911 out of fear of facing criminal prosecution. The Georgia Medical Amnesty Law provides limited immunity to individual seeking medical attention for overdoses.

“If you see someone who has overdosed, it is crucial that you do not hesitate, and call 911 immediately,” Rolle said. “EMS personnel are equipped with Narcan, a counteracting drug, which when administered in a timely fashion can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.”

Rolle said an opioid overdose can be identified by a combination of three symptoms known as the Opioid Triad. They are:

♦ Pinpoint pupils

♦ Unconsciousness

♦ Respiratory depression

Additional signs and symptoms include:

♦ Unresponsiveness

♦ Awake, but unable to talk

♦ Body is very limp

♦ Face is pale or clammy

♦ Blue lips, fingernails and skin

♦ For lighter-skinned people, the skin tone turns bluish purple; for darker-skinned people, the skin tone turns grayish or ashen

♦ Breathing is very slow and shallow, irregular or has stopped

♦ Pulse is slow, erratic or not there at all

♦ Choking sounds or a snore-like gurgling noise (sometimes called the death rattle)

♦ Vomiting.

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