Wagoner Stands Against Opioid Crisis, Establishes Overdose Awareness Week

The Wagoner Community Hospital is joining several agencies in fighting opioid addiction as part of the city’s “Overdose Awareness Week.”

This is the city’s effort to help decrease the number of people who overdose on drugs.

Oklahoma’s alarming increase in drug overdoses has sent a message to city officials. The city’s response is a collaborative effort to make a change and hopefully save lives.

Mayor Albert Jones declared this week “Overdose Awareness Week” while standing in front of Wagoner Community Hospital Monday afternoon. Jones said it’s the first step to make positive change.

“Drug use, narcotic use it’s not just a stigma that’s somebody else’s problem,” Jones said. “It really affects us all.”

Opiates leading to overdoses are increasing across Oklahoma. The CDC reports from 2019 to 2020, more than 730 Oklahomans died from overdoses.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics said in 2020, there were a total of 1,119 overdoses across the state. In 2021, that number increased nearly ten-percent to 1,223.

Dr. Suzanne Salichs with Wagoner Community Hospital said she anticipates the number of overdoses will be even higher by the end of this year.

“We looked back from September 1st to February 28th, this past six months, and we looked at over 800 patients admitted to our emergency room for substances,” Salichs said. “That’s a large number. So, it’s concerning to us.”

Wagoner Police Chief, Bob Haley, shares those concerns. While educating the public about drug safety is a priority, he said it’s also important to educate first responders about mental health when responding to overdoses.

“Drugs are one part of it,” Haley said. “Opiates and opioids are a part of it, but mental health is a big aspect of it as well. So, we got to teach them and train them in what we are dealing with because we are dealing with it.”

Wagoner will host events that will be open to the public through Friday as part of Overdose Awareness Week.