According to Agett, the decline in fatal overdoses for 2018 is anywhere between 12 and 68 percent, depending on how many current overdose investigations result in a conclusion that they were drug-induced fatalities.

A report citing data from the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services says the 2018 rate of drug overdose deaths has declined by at least 12 percent compared to 2017.  The data also shows that the decline could be as much as 68 percent, but is dependent on how many pending overdose investigations turn into drug-induced fatalities.

County health officials attribute the decline of fatal drug overdoses to a variety of likely factors, including an increase in availability and use of naloxone to counter the effects of opioids, a shift in drug use from opioids to methamphetamine and an increase in access to drug treatment and recovery resources.

Luis Garcia (left) and Kelly Sherlock

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Police have charged two city residents with Child Endangerment after a child had to call 911 following an apparent drug overdose.

According to a report from the Jamestown Police Department, officers were call to an apartment at 601 Lafayette St. just before 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11 to respond to a report of two individuals being unresponsive.

Police say an 8 year-old child was also in the apartment and called 911 to report the incident.

Police and EMS arrived and located the two individuals as being unresponsive on the floor suffering from an apparent overdose. The two were later identified as 45-year-old Luis Garcia and 30-year-old Kelly Sherlock. Both EMS and police reportedly administered Narcan to Garcia and Sherlock, who subsequently regained consciousness.

The two were transported to UPMC WCA for further treatment and were later released.

Both individuals were then taken into custody by police and charged with Endangering the Welfare of a child. Following arraignment in Jamestown City Court the two were committed to the County Jail.

The child was not injured and was turned over to a family member.

Fighting the epidemic has actually been an ongoing conversation and focus for elected officials in Chautauqua County since the start of 2014. Next Wednesday, Chautauqua County executive Vince Horrigan will deliver his annual state of the county speech and he’ll likely take some time to update the county on the fight, as well as what further actions will be taken in 2016 to fight drug addiction.

Horrigan was a guest on WRFA’s community matters program at the end of January, and said that if the county is to see a change in the ongoing drug addiction crisis, everyone will need to pitch in.

Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan.

“I’m going to step forward and do everything in my power, but it takes everybody,” Horrigan said. “It takes families. It takes the addicts themselves. It takes treatment. It takes law enforcement. It takes insurance. It takes everything else. So I think if we’re all on deck and if we’re all working hard, we’ll make a difference.”

Horrigan’s thoughts have been echoed by Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi, who told WRFA in January that fighting illegal drugs will be a major challenge, but it can accomplished through a group effort.

“It has to be led by the county, led by human service agencies, led by religious organizations, and lead by healthcare providers and the city of Jamestown is proud to be part of that coalition – to see what we can get, more in the way of both outpatient and, hopefully someday, an inpatient treatment center built in the community. The city of Jamestown is 100 percent on board,” Teresi said.

Teresi also made note of the ongoing fight in his state of the city report.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi

“While the strong, collaborative initiatives of area law enforcement agencies have and will continue to produce necessary and impressive results on the ‘supply’ side of the equation, this is a multi-faceted and complex problem that we simply cannot ‘arrest our way out of’,” Teresi said in his report. “As others across the nation have learned, a comprehensive counseling, education and treatment strategy is essential to dealing with the issue.”

Horrigan agrees that in order to fight drug addiction, local communities needs to not only focus on the supply side, but also focus on the demand side. He said during his January interview that can be done by helping those who are currently battling addiction.

“WCA Hospital is in the process of looking to expand their treatment capability. We have NARCAN now, which has proven to be life-saving. We have a criminal justice coordinating council that’s making better strides of how we’re dealing with those that can be released under supervision, probation, and getting treatment,” Horrigan said, adding, “We’re hitting this from about nine different angles.”

Besides the ongoing influx of illegal drugs in the area, the other major challenge is finding the funding needed to adequately provide help for local residents battling addiction. Horrigan said it’s unlikely the county will be able to use much of its own money and instead will be seeking help from both Albany and Washington.

“Realistically, I think it’s state level and I guess I was hoping to hear more from that in the Governor’s 2016 State of the State address – a little bit more on heroin, which I didn’t hear specifically, but I do know that in his budget he does have some funds there,” Horrigan said. “We look to OASIS at the state level and at the federal level, mental health assistance. So I think that’s where the big resources will come, but I don’t see the county [using more of it’s local funding], per se, other than we are going to step up the medical capability of our jail.”

Horrigan has at least one ally at the federal level who agrees more money needs to be available for communities battling the drug epidemic. On Thursday Senator Charles Schumer was in Buffalo to address the issue, saying that more federal funding needs to be given to the region in order to effectively fight the problem and get the illegal drugs off the streets.

FRUSTRATION OVER TREATMENT OPTIONS CONTINUES

Despite Horrigan’s and Teresi’s pledge to make drug addiction a top priority in 2016, not everyone is convinced things are moving forward as quickly as they could be.

Rick Huber is CEO of the Mental Health Association of Chautauqua County – a non-governmental organization that provides peer support to those dealing with drug addiction. He said that addiction continues to be on the rise in the area, based on the number of individuals who come into his office every day at the Gateway Center, 31 Water St. in Jamestown.

• RELATED: LISTEN TO RECENT WRFA INTERVIEW WITH RICK HUBER

Following Wednesday’s overdose death in the town of Ellery, Huber blasted Horrigan and the county for not doing enough to help fight the drug problem.

“The county Mental Hygiene Department and the county executive have introduced nothing to help fix this problem,” Huber said in an email to WRFA on Thursday. “They’ve developed no programs for the drug problem. The county takes credit for the introduction of NARCAN, but it was actually started by my office over a year before the county had it. The truth is we brought it to the county through Evergreen Health Services. We had our staff trained and were training parents of addicts. And then I was told we were was not supposed to be doing it at the time by the Mental Hygiene director [Patricia Brinkman]. That’s just one of the programs they take credit for that they didn’t start.”

Huber adds that the local Release Under Supervision (RUS) program was at first conducted by his office, the Jamestown City Court and the Resource Center prior to the county overseeing the program. He also said the recent syringe exchange program was introduced by Evergreen Health Services and his office, not by the county.

Those who want to learn more about the services provided by the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County are invited to attend a public information meeting, led by Huber, on Saturday, Feb. 20 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Prendergast Library. The event is sponsored by  the Jamestown Pride Society.

Huber is also helping to coordinate a vigil commemorating the one year anniversary of the death of area resident Christin Tibbitts, who died on Feb. 27, 2015 from a heroin overdose. That event will take place next Saturday, Feb. 27 in Dunkirk.

According to a media release sent out by the sheriff’s office, deputies were called to a home in the Town of Ellery at about 9:44 a.m. for a suspected overdose. Upon arrival Deputies administered two doses of Nasal Narcan and performed CPR with Fluvanna Fire Dept. The patient was transferred to WCA Hospital by Fluvanna Fire Dept where the patient was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Police did not release the name of the deceased.

On the first anniversary of her death from a heroin overdose, Christin Tibbetts’s parents, Kim Leach and Kevin Tibbetts, will join the Mental Health Association of Chautauqua County in sponsoring a Candlelight Vigil. This remembrance of all those who have died from heroin will be held on Saturday evening, February 27, 2016, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club, 1 North Mullett Street in Dunkirk.

DUNKIRK – When 23-year-old Christin Tibbetts died a year ago in Falconer from a heroin overdose, she left her grieving parents as well as a five-year-old daughter.

On Saturday, February 27, the first anniversary of her death, her parents, Kim Leach and Kevin Tibbetts, will join the Mental Health Association of Chautauqua County in holding a Candlelight Vigil to remember Christin and all those who have died from heroin.

The Vigil will be at the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club, 1 North Mullett Street in Dunkirk, New York.

Born in Dunkirk, Christin had been a soccer player and cheerleader, graduated from Fredonia High School, went to Jamestown Community College, and was attending SUNY Fredonia.

After becoming addicted to heroin, in the final months of her life Christin lost her car, apartment and custody of her daughter. In an effort to stay clean, she went from jail to her father’s home in Falconer.

Since finding his daughter’s lifeless body on the morning of February 27 last year, Kevin Tibbetts has been committed to speaking out for the need for more services for people with addictions in Chautauqua County.

In preparing for the vigil, Christin’s parents had supper recently with Rick Huber, CEO of the Mental Health Association. Huber hopes the event will also raise awareness about the need to develop new programs to address the drug addiction crisis facing the county. Huber said currently, there is only one 12-bed, 28 day program in the area to help those with addiction, adding that Christin’s parents tried to find local help before her death but were unable to do so.

• RELATED: LISTEN TO RECENT WRFA INTERVIEW WITH RICK HUBER

“Kim asked me why she could have sent her daughter to other states and gotten her in for treatment but couldn’t find anything here,” Huber said. “That was three years ago, and still all we have is the 12-bed, 28-day program at WCA (Hospital), when any parent who’s had a heroin-addicted child will tell you that’s not long enough at all.”

From his years of providing peer support to drug addicted people at the Mental Health Association, Huber observed, “Our government has been spending time and resources trying to get the problem to fit into existing programs when we need to develop local programs to meet the problem. We are losing a whole generation of young people to this epidemic. This vigil is to remember those we have lost and remember we need to fight to get what is needed so we don’t lose more.”

To learn more about the Candlelight Vigil and the services of the Mental Health Association, call (716) 661-9044 or visit www.mhachautauqua.org or www.facebook.com/MHAChautauqua.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer

BUFFALO – Western New York is still dealing with a major heroin epidemic and its time more is done to eliminate the drug from coming into our communities.

That’s according to U.S. senator Charles Schumer, who was in Buffalo on Monday to announce his plan to stem the tide of cross-border drug trafficking.

Schumer is calling on the House of Representatives to immediately pass the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act – which could he says will help halt the dramatic increase in opiate and heroin overdoses in Buffalo and Western New York by making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute drug traffickers who shuttle drugs over the border into Buffalo. The bill has already been approved in the U.S. Senate.

According to the Erie County Health Department, there have been 147 fatal opioid-related overdoses in 2015 alone, with Erie County health officials predicting 275 fatalities by year’s end. That’s compared to 128 deaths in Erie County in 2014.

The training is open to the public and is available to those in the community who wish to become trained to respond to an opioid overdose by administering naloxone, also known as Narcan.

Narcan is an opioid antagonist which reverses opiate effects of sedation and respiratory depression during an opioid overdose. Narcan can be administered by first responders or friends and family of someone who is experiencing an opiate overdose.

• RELATED: County Drug Forum to Take Place March 16 in Mayville

The goal of the training is to prevent death and other negative consequences of opioid overdose by training nonmedical responders to recognize a suspected opioid overdoses and to take appropriate action.

The training will be hosted by the S.O.S. group facilitated by Chautauqua Tapestry Family Lead Melody Morris. The S.O.S. group meets monthly and provides support and resources for people in the community impacted by the addiction of a loved one. The group recognizes that heroin and pain medication dependency has no boundaries and provides hope and education to those who seek support.

The free opioid overdose response training is open to the public and will be held the evening of Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator. Those interested in attending must register by calling (716) 753-4507.

An image of the pink packaging that was used to distribute heroin that led to three overdoses, including one fatal, on Feb. 27, 2015 in Falconer and Lakewood, NY.

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown police say there were no additional chemicals in a batch of heroin that resulted in three overdoses last week, including one fatality.

Jamestown Police Captain Robert Samuelson sent out a media release on Wednesday saying that samples of the pink-packaged heroin were tested at the New York State Police Crime Lab and were found to have no other chemicals or agents.

Local police on Friday issued a public health alert after three heroin overdoses took place in less than a day. Two of the overdoses were in Lakewood and the other was in Falconer, which resulted in the accidental death of a female. Police say all three overdoses involved heroin that came in pink packaging.

On Tuesday, more pink-packaged heroin was discovered after two separate drug raids in the city.

According to a report in the Post-Journal, two other samples of the pink-packaged heroin are also being tested and police are awaiting results.

Jamestown, NY Police say that heroin found in this packaging may have led to at least three overdoses, one of them fatal.

Heroin Linked to Three ODs, At Least One Fatal

JAMESTOWN, NY (Friday, Feb. 27, 2015) – Police Agencies throughout Chautauqua County are warning the public of three heroin overdoses that occurred Friday due to the consumption of heroin that is packaged in a pink package. One of the overdoses has resulted in a fatality.

Police sent out a media release Friday afternoon stating that one of the overdoses occurred in Falconer, NY and the other two have occurred in the village of Lakewood, NY.

It is believed that more of this product is out on the streets and in the hands of individuals now. At this time it is unknown what is in the heroin that is causing the overdoses or illness issue. The heroin may be overly potent or may have been tainted with another substance. The investigation is continuing.

Anyone who may have information on the origin of this pink packaged heroin is asked to contact the Jamestown, NY Police at (716) 483-7537 or they can leave an anonymous tip at (716) 483-TIPS (8477). All calls will be kept confidential.