Overdoses still rising in Sussex, Kent
The number of suspected drug overdoses in Sussex County has continued to rise in the 10 days since health officials and state police issued an urgent alert.
There were 109 suspected overdoses and three deaths suspected from overdose in Sussex County between April 26 and May 7, according to a spokesman for Delaware Health and Social Services.
Delaware State Police says the majority of the suspected overdoses have been in Georgetown, Millsboro and Milford.
DHSS says there have been 67 suspected overdoses and three suspected deaths from overdoses in Kent County between April 26 and May 7.
At a May 1 press conference held at Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, officials said there had been 50 suspected cases in Sussex County and one suspected overdose death up to that point.
Beebe said it had treated 30 patients as of May 1. Doctors said 11 of those patients needed treatment in the intensive care unit.
Beebe spokesman Ryan Marshall says the situation is stabilizing for them.
“We are not seeing the spike of patients coming into our Emergency Department, however, we are still seeing patients daily,” Marshall said.
State police said it is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation and cannot make any other comment.
On May 3, state police issued an update to its original community alert.
DSP said it enlisted the Delaware National Guard to test the drug found in those who had overdosed. DSP said samples showed packages containing Xylazine, Bromazolam, Fentanyl, Quinine and Caffeine.
The Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health has provided 2,000 Narcan kits to Beebe to distribute throughout its healthcare system. It has given 200 additional doses of Naloxone to Beebe’s Emergency Department.
“Thanks to the partnership with DSAMH who supplied the additional kits, we’ve distributed about 1,100 Narcan kits to the community. Our Community Outreach and Mobile Behavioral Health teams continue to go out into the community to provide services,” said Marshall. Those events can be found at beebehealthcare.org/calendar/narcan-pod.
DHSS and DSP are urging heightened awareness and using exercise extreme caution in consuming unknown substances.
DHSS support resources can be found at dhss.delaware.gov.
