Winnebago County resources struggle to gain upper hand in battle with opioid addictions
According to the Winnebago County Opioid Fatality Review, 2023 overdose deaths numbered 47, up 10 from the previous year. This marked a record-breaking year for opioid overdose deaths across the country, and Oshkosh was not immune to this epidemic. As the death toll continues to climb, the community is left wondering why, and what can be done to stop it.
Ashlee Rahmlow, a public health supervisor for the county, cites the COVID-19 pandemic as a possible trigger for rising rates of addiction and overdose.
“COVID impacted everything. For many of us it was the first time in our lives that we found ourselves completely isolated from the rest of the world,” she said.
This isolation caused an increase in substance use as many people turn to drugs to manage emotional distress. When all other support systems shut down, substances become a source of escape. Lauren Anderson, a peer recovery specialist at Solutions Recovery has seen firsthand this deathly cycle.
“Isolation is very dangerous for addicts,” she said. “We need connection with other like-minded people and we need community. A lot of people ended up back in active addiction because of the isolation brought about by COVID.”
According to the National Library of Medicine, as suicidality increased during the pandemic, so did overdoses. When lockdown ended, a return to “normal” rates was expected, but instead the nation was hit with another spike. Many hold fentanyl, an extremely strong form of opioid that is being imported from foreign manufacturers, responsible for this increase in overdose fatalities.
“In Winnebago County in 2023, we arguably had more services than we ever had before and yet we still have record deaths. What we’re seeing is higher rates of people dying and that's because of fentanyl,” Rahmlow said.
Though some that struggle with substance abuse start recreationally, another common way to develop an addiction is after prescription pain medicine runs out. Individuals with certain genetic predispositions are at especially high risk for developing an addiction after medical use of opioids.
“People are prescribed opioids for pain management and it is easy to become physically dependent on them. The withdrawals are incredibly uncomfortable and many people fear going through them, keeping them stuck in the cycle,” Anderson said.
As people’s bodies grow dependent on opioids, they begin to use drugs not for the hit of dopamine that they provide, but to ward off the negative symptoms of withdrawal.
“There are two types of addictions: take something to feel good vs take something to not feel bad,” Dr. Eric Smiltneek, a family doctor at Aurora Medical in Oshkosh, said.
Overdose occurs when one takes a dangerous or fatal amount of a substance. Opioid overdoses can be fatal, but a tool that is upwards of 90% effective is naloxone, also known as Narcan. Rahmlow is one of many behind a county-wide initiative to get Narcan into the community. One strategy is to provide free and anonymous Narcan vending machines, which also offer equipment like fentanyl test strips and drug deactivation kits.
“We know if we can keep people alive there's a chance that they can recover,” Smiltneek said.
A unified effort is shown in the county’s relatively new STAR (Solutions Recovery, Human Services and the Sheriff's Department) program, which is a collaboration between multiple organizations targeted at individuals recovering in jail. Though this specific program only applies to those who are already in the hands of law enforcement, and it is reminiscent of the strategy outside of that scenario as well.
The county health’s role is split between harm reduction and prevention. Prevention falls in the hands of organizations like the Breakwater Coalition, a program targeted at youth that seeks to assess and educate on substance abuse. As for law enforcement, they are trying to stop the problem at the source. No longer toiling with low level harmless distributors, they are occupying themselves by locating and cutting off the flow of fentanyl into the community. Seeking treatment for drug abuse can be a challenging decision to make, according to Crisis Housing Advocate Emily Trudgeon.
“For some of them they just have that attitude or that mentality of ‘I’m going to do this and it’s going to work.’ And it did for a while, but it can’t stick until they address the underlying causes,” she said.
Those underlying causes are dealt with at Solutions Recovery, an organization focused on getting and keeping people sober.
“Solutions is on the front line, meeting people where they are at, spreading hope and cultivating recovery. Solutions sober living has an incredible success rate,” Anderson said.
Resources like the Methadone Clinic distribute medications to get people off of their more powerful opioids slowly. Dr. Smiltneek adds that in addition to easing people off, these drugs have other benefits.
“There are medications to replace opioids. What those do is reduce the likelihood of overdose, particularly fatal overdoses,” he said.
In this multifaceted approach, the role of the average person may be just as important as that of larger organizations. Trudgeon emphasizes the importance of maintaining connections with people dealing with addiction.
“If you see someone struggling with addiction, be empathetic towards them. Know that it’s not the person you’re unhappy with, it’s the addiction,” she said.
by Isaac Considine-Buelow
Published October 7 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue I