LEONARDTOWN, Md. – The St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) has launched a new Opioid Dashboard to inform community members and assist with local behavioral health planning. The opioid epidemic continues to affect our community. In 2019, 31 residents died from an opioid overdose. While 2020 data has not been finalized, opioid overdoses continued to be a significant factor in local fatality rates. Overdoses have an impact beyond individual persons to families, workplaces, and schools in the community.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has been front and center for the past year, the opioid drug epidemic is still stealing lives and hurting families in our community,” said Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Mary’s County Health Officer. “We hope this data dashboard will support our community partners in planning additional drug prevention and treatment initiatives for our residents.”
The SMCHD Opioid Dashboard will provide information on the following metrics:
• Opioid-related deaths
• Opioid-related 911 calls
• Opioid-related emergency department visits
• Prescriptions filled for opiates
• Substance exposed newborns
• Naloxone training provided
The data dashboard is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice through the St. Mary’s County Opioid Information Sharing Collaborative.
To access to SMCHD Opioid Dashboard, please visit www.smchd.org/opioid-data
For information about the local opioid crisis, including prevention strategies and treatment resources, please visit www.smchd.org/opioid