Heroin overdoses are rising most everywhere, but perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in Manatee County.
That was the topic at a recent meeting of the Manatee Tiger Bay Club in Bradenton. This week on Florida Matters (Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 a.m.), we’ll bring you highlights of that discussion.
According to Stephen Krivjanik, the chief of Emergency Medical Services in Manatee County:
· November 2014 is when they started to see a spike, with a peak in June and July of 2015
· A 1,554 percent increase in overdoses when comparing July 2014 to July 2015
· In July 2015, 216 911 calls for overdose patients
· 1,008 doses of Narcan administered through Aug. 31 at a cost of $86,137
· 35 repeat overdoses in the month of July alone
· EMS have responded to 21 calls where the person was dead on arrival
