Livingston County health officials report spike in drug overdoses
The Livingston County Health Department and Livingston County Mental Health reported six overdoses in the county in just three days. Two of those overdoses were fatal.
"It was enough of an increase that it raised additional concern that something was happening that we had to alert the public to," said Connie Conklin, the executive director of Livingston County Mental Health.
Conklin said that as of Friday, Community Mental Health and the Health Department are still working to analyze which drugs were present or contributed to the overdoses. But she said they are getting some reports that drugs are being found mixed with fentanyl.
"Kind of scary in itself that it's crossing so many different drugs," said Conklin.
Conklin said she is encouraging people to seek treatment if they are ready and to practice safer use practices. But for the moment, the overdoses seem to have slowed down.
"You do want to explore harm reduction in any case because this is not something that is always predictable, and if there is fentanyl and it seems like there is fentanyl in more drugs than there used to be," Conklin said. "You have to be careful."
There is free Narcan at the Livingston County Mental Health offices and seven other locations around the county.
