NEWS

Overdose deaths in Ross County on pace to set record

Caitlin Turner
cturner3@chillicothegazette.com
  • Drug overdose deaths in 2015 in Ross County are tracking to meet or beat the record
  • Use of anti-overdose drug Narcan is down%2C but officials believe heroin use still at high level
  • Addiction is one common thread in the disappearance of six women%2C four of which were found dead
  • Narcan is available for private and law enforcement use

CHILLICOTHE – On April 14, 2014, a family lost a father and husband to something they can never likely track down.

Tracey Kemper-Hermann spoke to the Gazette about the great impact her late husband, Jason Hermann, had on the community. Hermann passed away from a drug overdose in April 2014.

"When he passed away, he was coming off a relapse the week before," Tracey Kemper-Hermann said of her late husband, Jason Hermann. "We had been in the process of moving, and I could tell something wasn't quite right."

Hermann, 42, of Chillicothe, passed away of a multiple drug overdose. Hermann fought his addiction since the age of 17. He and Kemper-Hermann were together for 15 years and married in 2013.

"We had a good life," Kemper-Hermann said. "He was happy. Then, one day, it could be anything and something would trigger him, and it was back to square one."

Hermann's death was just one of the many reported in 2014. According to the corner's report, Hermann died of an overdose involving heroin, morphine, cocaine and benzodiazepines.

So far, in 2015, according to the Ross County Coroner's Office, 16 overdose fatalities have occurred. Of the 16 deaths, eight involved heroin and four were drug-related. Ten of the deaths were males and six females.

In 2014, 31 people in the county died from an overdose with six being drug-related and 19 deaths involving heroin. The numbers for 2015, County Coroner Dr. John Gabis said, are on track to tie or surpass 2014.

"The frustrating thing is we are doing everything we can, but we aren't making a dent," Dr. John Gabis, the county coroner, said. Gabis was one of the first county coroners in Ohio to sound the alert about prescription drug abuse years ago and gave a similar warning in the past few years regarding the rise in heroin usage and deaths.

Seven years ago, he said, the people most likely to overdose in Ross County were middle-aged men. Today, the trend is younger women.

It's a troubling trend for a community where four women have been found dead and two others — all of them who battled addiction demons — are still missing. One of the missing women who was found dead, Tameka Lynch, was determined to have died of a drug overdose before being dumped in Paint Creek and at least one other had drugs in her system when she died.

Mike Haller, of Haller Funeral Home, said his business is responsible for picking up the deceased after authorities have investigated the scene.

"We used to make two pickups (a year) that were suspected of overdosing," Haller said. "Now, it is two or three a month. It's unbelievable."

Addiction treatment

Tracey Kemper-Hermann spoke to the Gazette about her late husband, Jason Hermann, who passed away from a drug overdose in April 2014.

Treatment for opiate addiction, which, according to the coroner's numbers, is the highest cause of overdoses in Ross County, is no easy task.

"For people that have an addiction to an opiates, treatment is much different than marijuana, alcohol or even cocaine," Juni Johnson, executive director of the Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, said. "Opiates change the way the brain works, kill off portions of the brain and leaves a craving for opiates to fill in."

Johnson said the ADAMH Board uses several different referrals and counseling methods to treat opiate addiction, which can take from one and a half to two years, unlike addiction to alcohol, which can be treated within six to nine months.

The options the board offers to those seeking treatment are outside referrals in Columbus for detox, however, it is difficult to treat addiction with drugs like suboxone, because physicians are limited in how much they can prescribe.

"I think there is this perception overall that suboxone is a replacement high," Johnson said. "That is not necessarily true."

The concern for the drug capable of reducing opiate dependence is it can be sold in small strips on the street for around $20, Johnson said. The drug keeps those who are dependent on opiates from being sick and lasts about half a day.

For Hermann, treatment involved participation in Alcoholics Anonymous, treatment centers and counseling others.

"(AA) became the main focus of his life," Kemper-Hermann said. "His whole life revolved around meeting people and talking to people."

Hermann was studying to be a drug and alcohol counselor for children. He traveled to jails, prisons and schools to give lectures about his experience with addiction and was one semester shy of graduating with his degree, Kemper-Hermann said.

"He could get in a room full of people and fit right in," Kemper-Hermann said. "He commanded the room."

Hermann's struggle began with alcohol and progressed to heroin use. He worked as a carpenter and never abused drugs around his four children or wife. Instead, Kemper-Hermann said, he would disappear for a day or two at a time.

Overdose prevention

A family photo shows a smiling Jason Hermann posing for a picture. Hermann passed away in April 2014 from a drug overdose. His family sat down with the Gazette so speak about Hermann, his battle, and the impact he made on the lives of many in the community.

One of the options local law enforcement, businesses, addicts and their friends and family have to stop an overdose is through the use of naloxone.

Commonly referred to as Narcan, naloxone can be administered either through an IV, a syringe or nasal spray and works to counter the effects of opioids.

The Ross County Health District offers Narcan training to anyone interested through Project DAWN. The training takes five to 10 minutes, Kathy Wakefield, director of nursing and communication health services, said to the Gazette in January.

The project began in February of 2014. So far in 2015, the department has given out 113 kits with two doses of Narcan in each kit and trained 318 people to administer the drug. Among those recently trained are members of the Chillicothe Police Department.

According to Chief Keith Washburn, the plan moving forward is to have a kit in each patrol cruiser. Washburn said the Ross County Sheriff's Office has similar plans.

The city fire deparment reports using Narcan 44 times this year, compared to 118 times for the entire year of 2014.

Chief Jeffrey Creed said he projects the end of the year with 90 to 100 times Narcan will be administered. Though the number could be lower, it is not a sign of the drug epidemic getting better, Creed said.

"It could be based on heroin initiatives and different batches going through town that may or may not be mixed with something else," Creed said. "There is no difference in the amount of heroin going through town. Some of the lower numbers could be with the amount of Narcan out on the street. If we have a bad month, it could all change."

The health district also offers a Vivitrol program. Vivitrol is a non-narcotic medication taken every 28 days that blocks the high from heroin or other opioids from reaching the brain.

So far this year, the health department reports 75 clients within the program.

The stigma of addiction

Though Hermann struggled, he was still a person. As Kemper-Hermann flipped through a family album, she took care to point out how much life Hermann had, and how he valued his family and friends.

"They (addicts) don't want to be this way," Kemper-Hermann said. "They would much rather be home with their families, but they are addicted. It is a disease."

Hermann's 20-year-old daughter, Kayla Carey, said like any other teenager, she got into arguments with her father. But, over time, she grew to understand his addiction and support him.

"My dad would say it isn't fun," Carey said about addiction. "My dad did everything he could possibly do to stay sober. It (addiction) is the devil."

Kemper-Hermann hopes to start a group for grieving families of overdose victims. She said her and Hermann's time with groups like AA and Al-Anon helped them face the problem head-on, instead of "brushing it under the rug."

"We have all got issues," Kemper-Hermann said. "But how many of us have ever had to stand up in a room and say it? A lot of people look down on addiction because they think it is a choice."

Kemper-Hermann urges those around her to recognize addiction as a disease and show compassion.

"People want to hide it and make it a big secret because they are ashamed," Kemper-Hermann said. "One thing Jason would say is, you are only as sick as your secrets."

Drug deaths in Ross County

2005: 12

2006: 11

2007: 20

2008: 10

2009: 18

2010: 19 (3) heroin

2011: 21 (5) heroin

2012: 19 (9) heroin

2013: 22 (4) heroin

2014: 31 (19) heroin

2015: 16 (8) heroin

Note: Heroin numbers could be provided only since 2010 and are included in each year's totals. The 2015 numbers are from January through June. Source: Ross County Coroner's Office

Naloxone, an anti-overdose drug, administered by the Chillicothe Fire Department:

2012: 73

2013: 68

2014: 118

2015: 44

Note: Numbers represent doses administered by emergency medical technicians and paramedics only. The 2015 numbers are from January through June. Source: Chillicothe Fire Department

Naloxone Usage in Adena Medical Center Emergency Room

2012: 193 doses

2013: 115 doses

2014: 210 doses

2015: 148 doses

Project DAWN and Vivitrol Program

Project DAWN is a program dedicated to training addicts, their friends and family members on how to administer naloxone. The Vivitrol program offers a drug that addicts can have injected into muscle once a month, and it blocks the areas of the brain that react to drugs, making it impossible get the feeling of being high. Both programs are run out of the Ross County Health District.

Project DAWN (number of those trained and carrying naloxone): 60 kits given with 2 doses/kit by the end of 2014. The program began in Feb. 2014. So far this year, the health district has trained 318 people to use naloxone and distributed 113 more kits.

Vivitrol program: 75 patients currently on the monthly injection