Delaware County saw 200+ ODs in first quarter of 2017

Jason Rogers, Delaware County’s executive director of emergency medical services and emergency management, said this week that between Jan. 1 and March 31, emergency medical personnel responded to 203 overdose calls.

Those calls, many stemming from abuse of heroin and related substances, represented nearly five percent of the 4,162 EMS calls during the three-month period. (The service responded to 729 overdose-related calls in 2016.)

“It’s given us an increase in what I consider critical patients,” Rogers said of the spike in heroin cases. “We only have so many resources. It’s becoming very problematic.”

Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn’s office recorded 25 fatal overdoses – many, but not all, involving heroin or related substances – through March 31.