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Oregon Health Authority

Local Overdose Prevention Partners

Welcome to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Local Overdose Prevention Partners webpage. This webpage serves to centralize the tools and information from the state that are necessary for local partners to improve health outcomes related to substance use disorder in their communities. Together, we can work towards a healthier Oregon.

Please review the Overdose-Related Services and Projects Summary by Oregon County for a snapshot of overdose-related services and projects across Oregon.

Visit OHA's Substance Use & Overdose Continuum Monthly Digest to stay up to date with overdose prevention resources, information, and upcoming events.


​Community of practice overview:

The Substance Use and Overdose Continuum Communities of Practice aim to bring together local, state, and community-based partners to discuss topics and share resources associated with Communications, Public Health and Public Safety Partnerships, and Data and Surveillance. These Communities of Practice convene partners to share best practices, resources, and experiences. Time is spent each meeting getting to know the work we do at OHA, sharing statewide and local resources, establishing partnerships, and discussing the quarterly topic area.

  • Communications: The Communications Community of Practice (CoP) is a dedicated space for statewide partners to connect with OHA staff on overdose prevention and harm reduction messaging, tools/resources, and technical assistance. This CoP facilitates stronger collaboration between state and local partners working to enhance public health communications about substance use, overdose prevention, and harm reduction.
  • Public Health & Public Safety Partnerships: The Public Health and Public Safety Partnership (PH/PS) Community of Practice (CoP) aims to unite public health, law enforcement, first responders, and other professionals working at the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health. This CoP provides a space for OHA and the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA) to share relevant and timely updates about PH/PS data (such as drug seizure data), to help foster relationship building among local partners, and to provide technical assistance to localities working on shared projects between PH/PS.
  • Data & Surveillance: The Data & Surveillance Community of Practice (CoP) offers data capacity building and technical assistance opportunities. In this CoP, learn how OHA can support partners with developing, maintaining, and disseminating diverse data sources for overdose monitoring and tracking.

 Please visit the Injury & Violence Prevention Program's Substance Use & Overdose Prevention Dashboard for more information and resources discussed in the CoPs.

OHA uses data from various sources to understand overdoses, overdose deaths, and the substances involved. OHA maintains the following surveillance resources to inform prevention and response strategies based on emerging trends.

Overdose Prevention Data Dashboard

This dashboard includes data on deaths, hospital discharges, and emergency room discharges for 11 drug categories. It also presents polysubstance overdose data. This dashboard displays statewide annual data trends, as well as aggregated county and demographic-level trends.

Please submit your question or feedback about the Overdose Prevention Data Dashboard here.

Quarterly Opioid Overdose Data Report  

Oregon Health Authority publishes a quarterly opioid overdose public health surveillance update. This report compiles overdose information from two state-based surveillance systems: the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) and the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE).

Use this link to subscribe to the listserv to directly receive the Quarterly Opioid Overdose Data Report. 

2023 Oregon Opioid Overdose Report

This 2023 report summarizes the burden of opiate and opioid overdose among Oregonians, as required by ORS 432.141. It describes trends in deaths from unintentional opioid and other types of overdoses, including those from fentanyl and demographics of decedents. It shows trends in opioid overdose emergency department and urgent care visits, hospitalizations, opioid prescriptions, and utilization of the Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. The report describes OHA's role in the many efforts underway to address the overdose crisis in Oregon.

Using Data to Support Local Overdose Response and Prevention

OHA hosted a three-part virtual training series May-June 2024 for Oregon's local and tribal public health leaders and staff to learn more about available data to support their local overdose response and prevention work.

Save Lives Oregon

The Save Lives Oregon initiative is a collaboration between the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and 10 organizations that implement harm reduction strategies and interventions located across Oregon, practice harm reduction across substance use continuum, and serve communities disproportionately affected by overdose and substance use related deaths. The aims of the Save Lives Oregon initiative are to support community agencies to move from awareness of harm reduction to integration and implementation of harm reduction and to support the equitable distribution of life-saving harm reduction supplies, including naloxone to organizations directly reaching people at highest risk of overdose, infection and injury due to substance use.

The Save Lives Oregon initiative includes:

  • A website that hosts the initiative's videos, community partner spotlight stories, newsletters, tools and other resources, for example the How to Give Naloxone videos in English and Spanish
  • Print-ready communication resources and tools that agencies can use to promote life-saving harm reduction strategies, understand and use naloxone, communicate about Oregon's Good Samaritan protections, for example BTNX fentanyl test strip instruction pamphlets, ready-to-use presentations on harm reduction and naloxone and more.
  • Organizational capacity-building delivered through learning collaboratives on topics identified by community partners and one-to-one technical assistance with community agencies to answer questions, issues and challenges. To request one-to-one technical assistance, please email info@savelivesoregon.org.
  • Harm Reduction Clearinghouse Project that supports equitable access to life-saving harm reduction supplies, including naloxone to organizations directly reaching people at highest risk of overdose, infection and injury due to substance use.  
  • School Opioid Overdose Reversal Kit Project that provides schools with overdose reversal kits to protect students' safety and respond effectively in the event of an overdose emergency.

 
Below are the first three videos in the Save Lives Oregon Harm Reduction in Action series.

Reverse Overdose Oregon

Reverse Overdose Oregon is a statewide campaign that gives employers the tools (such as training guides, toolkits, and videos) to train their teams on how to use naloxone—the lifesaving medication that reverses opioid overdose—as part of workplace safety and preparedness. By providing naloxone training and resources to employers, Oregon Health Authority is expanding the pool of first responders to overdose and empowering everyday people to save the lives of coworkers and community members who accidentally overdose from prescription painkillers or illicit opioids.

Heal Safely

Heal Safely is a campaign to empower people to heal safely after injury or surgery. Everyone deserves safe, effective options that will help them rest, recover and get back to daily life. Use this link to find healthy healing plans, toolkits on pain management, and other resources on how to be responsible with opioid medications.

Fentanyl Communications Resources
OHA adapted Lane County's Fentanyl Aware campaign in May 2024 as a statewide social media campaign to raise awareness on the risks associated with fentanyl and counterfeit pills. Lane County's campaign resources are available in English and Español. Local prevention partners may access and promote these resources by contacting Lane County Public Health  (Alexander.LaVake@lanecounty.or.gov). 


OHA Fact Sheets

OHA created several materials to provide Oregonians with the necessary information to keep themselves and their loved ones safe from drug overdose. Along with the listed resources below and in the “Resources" section, you can find more detailed information about overdose prevention and other drugs on OHA's polysubstance use, stimulants, fentanyl, and xylazine webpages.

If anyone uses drugs (even just experimentally, occasionally, or recreationally), they are at risk of overdose. OHA created these fact sheets so that local partners can use them to help their community members prevent, recognize, and respond to a drug overdose.

​Since 2020, Oregon Health Authority has funded 11 Regional Overdose Prevention Coordinators spanning 23 counties to support local overdose prevention and expand programs and collaborations. Overdose Prevention Coordinators are a resource for overdose prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and overdose emergency response planning within each county. Review the following documents below for additional information about the Overdose Prevention Coordinators, their work, and how they are making an impact on overdose prevention across Oregon.

OHA works across several sectors including public safety organizations to support an inclusive approach to reducing drug-related overdoses and fatalities in Oregon.

OHA's partnership with the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA) on the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) is an important collaboration for reducing fatal drug overdoses. The ORS is an initiative designed to enhance public health and public safety collaboration to strengthen and improve efforts to reduce drug overdoses. With support from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the ORS initiative supports innovation at the local, state, and regional levels in Oregon. 

Collaboration between public health and public safety partners in Oregon is a crucial part of addressing the overdose crisis. The Oregon ORS team is a valuable resource for local partners to utilize when working to build relationships across sectors, share timely and pertinent information, and support evidence-based interventions to facilitate overdose response and prevention strategies.

HIDTA Oregon Drug Trends 2023 Report

Oregon-Idaho HIDTA publishes an annual Threat Assessment to provide a snapshot of the drug trafficking, production and use in each state and HIDTA designated county. The reports summarize the drug threat that exists in each area. The Threat Assessment is a great resource to better inform local partners about the changes in the drug supply landscape across Oregon and in their regional areas that can help to plan overdose prevention activities accordingly due to changes in the local drug supply. 

Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP)

The Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) is a free, web-based tool that provides near real-time suspected overdose surveillance data across jurisdictions (including Oregon) to support public safety and public health efforts to mobilize an immediate response to a sudden increase, or spike in overdose events. Please refer to the “Oregon Overdose Data" section of this webpage for recordings of a three-part data series that includes an in-depth ODMAP tutorial. 

For more information about the ORS initiative, HIDTA data reports or ODMAP please use the following contact information; ORS Public Health Analyst, Isabelle Cisco: Icisco@cdcfoundation.org.

​Understanding the Impact on Specific Communities: Oregon's overdose crisis has impacted every community, but some communities are affected more than others. Black/African American communities and American Indian/Alaska Native communities are experiencing the highest rates of fatal overdoses. Other populations at higher risk of overdose include males; people aged 34-44; LGBTQIA2S+ people; people with substance use, alcohol, or mental health disorders; people recently released from jail or prison; and people experiencing houselessness.

 Actionable Insight: As an overdose prevention partner, identify which groups in your area are most affected.

Ask:

  • Who are the most disproportionately impacted populations in our community?
  • What do we know about these communities through data and/or community wisdom?
  • How can we prioritize services for these community members?
  • Do we have input from communities or community members with lived experiences to inform our approaches?

Consider building specific outreach strategies that include direct input from the populations in which your efforts are targeted to provide the most equitable impact and reach.

Addressing Systemic Barriers Across the Substance Use Continuum: Oregon's overdose disparities are closely tied to systemic racism, generational trauma, and long-standing health inequities. There are large gaps in Oregon's substance use disorder services, where the demand and need for these services outweigh the availability of resources. Furthermore, there is limited access to culturally and linguistically appropriate services in Oregon. This further contributes to inequities among communities experiencing health disparities.

Actionable Insight: Think about ways to bridge these gaps by advocating for culturally responsive services in your community. Can you form partnerships with local organizations that offer language-specific or culturally competent care? Are there opportunities to provide training on trauma-informed care or to advocate for more resources from local and state agencies? Start conversations with your partners about how to fill these service gaps. 


The Complex Web of Contributing Factors: There are several complex factors contributing to Oregon's overdose crisis, including racism, stigma, affordable housing, healthcare access, economic opportunity, climate change, and other forms of community-level trauma. Addressing these issues will require local partnerships and coordination across systems to promote improved quality of life and wellbeing among all Oregonians.


Actionable Insight: Partnerships and coordination across different systems (housing, healthcare, harm reduction, etc.) are key to addressing the broader social determinants of health that contribute to the overdose crisis. As an overdose prevention partner, consider how your organization can collaborate with other sectors to address these root causes. For example, if you're a community-based organization (CBO) in housing, immigration, or behavioral health, collaborating with substance use disorder, harm reduction, or overdose prevention partners can help ensure these resources reach the populations you serve.


Communications Guidance for Overdose Reporting

OHA developed this communications guidance for Local Mental Health Authorities, as required by 2023 House Bill 2395. The purpose of this guidance is to improve local notifications and information-sharing when a person 24 years of age or younger dies of a suspected drug overdose.

Please be advised that this document contains information related to youth drug overdose deaths. Oregon's overdose crisis has impacted every community across the state, and the highly sensitive and tragic nature of these events have caused harm, trauma, and loss that directly impact the well-being of all Oregonians.


​OHA works with Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to develop tools that help to prevent youth substance use and overdoses.

Refer to the following resources to support overdose prevention initiatives in education settings:

Fentanyl & Opioid Response Toolkit for Schools: This toolkit aims to support prevention, harm reduction, and response efforts related to youth fentanyl use. It provides Oregon school districts with information about fentanyl in Oregon, resources for prevention education, and guidance school policies and protocols.

Developing a Policy and Protocol to Rapidly Reverse Opioid Overdose: This resource complements the Fentanyl & Opioid Response Toolkit for Schools by providing guidance for school districts to adopt policies for staff to administer opioid overdose reversal medications.

Use the below to review how Oregon schools are approaching overdose prevention and onset of substance use: