There Is More Than One Opioid Crisis
Danny Finley
Danny Finley  has been the coroner for Clay County  a rural area in the southeastern part of the state  since 2011. But thatâs not his primary job. Heâs an insurance broker working primarily in health care and a licensed funeral director  although heâs not currently active in that role.
At the time he was elected   Finley  said  Clay County was in the midst of a serious drug problem. According to KIPRC  the county of roughly 22 000 people had 25 drug overdose deaths that year. But it wasnât clear which drugs were responsible  so  Finley  couldnât tell whether the countyâs drug problem was the same or different from those in other parts of the state.
In Kentucky  more thorough death investigations and better cause-of-death data allowed  Finley  and other officials to respond to the specific problems in Clay County.  Finley  was able to determine that prescription medications were the root of the drug problem in  his  county. âMost of the media reporting was on meth labs â  Finley  said. âI would look at my data  and although meth labs were serious problems  they were not the problems I was having in Clay County.â
Since then   Finley  said  there has been a collaborative effort among hospital emergency department practitioners to better educate county residents on the dangers of misusing prescriptions and to stop overprescribing opioids and benzodiazepines  a class of drugs typically used for anxiety or panic disorders.
Aside from data management  an important element of Hargroveâs job is to help county coroners across the state discover their roles as public health officials. Hargrove nodded to  Finley  as an official who has effectively helped rally a local community to fight the epidemic. According to a KIPRC report released in August  Clay County had only five overdose fatalities in 2016  a notable drop from the 25 it had five years earlier.
[TGT] has been the coroner for Clay County  a rural area in the southeastern part of the state  since 2011. But thatâs not  [TGT]  primary job. Heâs an insurance broker working primarily in health care and a licensed funeral director  although heâs not currently active in that role.
At the time he was elected    [TGT] said  Clay County was in the midst of a serious drug problem. According to KIPRC  the county of roughly 22 000 people had 25 drug overdose deaths that year. But it wasnât clear which drugs were responsible  so   [TGT] couldnât tell whether the countyâs drug problem was the same or different from those in other parts of the state.
In Kentucky  more thorough death investigations and better cause-of-death data allowed   [TGT] and other officials to respond to the specific problems in Clay County.   [TGT] was able to determine that prescription medications were the root of the drug problem in   [TGT]   county. âMost of the media reporting was on meth labs â   [TGT] said. âI would look at my data  and although meth labs were serious problems  they were not the problems I was having in Clay County.â
Since then    [TGT] said  there has been a collaborative effort among hospital emergency department practitioners to better educate county residents on the dangers of misusing prescriptions and to stop overprescribing opioids and benzodiazepines  a class of drugs typically used for anxiety or panic disorders.
Aside from data management  an important element of Hargroveâs job is to help county coroners across the state discover their roles as public health officials. Hargrove nodded to   [TGT] as an official who has effectively helped rally a local community to fight the epidemic. According to a KIPRC report released in August  Clay County had only five overdose fatalities in 2016  a notable drop from the 25 it had five years earlier.