Bellingham, Whatcom officials trying a new strategy to battle the fentanyl crisis
Several Whatcom County agencies will start sharing resources and information as they mobilize to confront the opioid crisis in the same way that emergency workers respond to an earthquake or other natural disasters that affect an entire region.
In addition, a statewide series of meetings is planned next month to share information and brainstorm solutions to an alarming rise in overdoses and deaths from fentanyl, the county’s Health and Community Services Department director recently told the County Council.
“Health and Community Services will be developing the framework for an incident command structure on opioids and fentanyl specifically,” Erika Lautenback said in a meeting Tuesday of the county Health Board.
“Officials at the Department of Health and Community Services are developing a fentanyl response plan similar to a unified command,” Lautenbach told the Heath Board, which is made up of County Council members.
Both Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood and County Executive Satpal Sidhu support such a systematic approach, Lautenbach said.
“We do expect to receive a request from them about standing up a multi-agency coordination group, which is a sort of more loosely defined group of individuals based on some models around the state that will help us sort of align our efforts, be more efficient in the support for individuals, business, school districts, the medical community, our police and fire and first responders and others that are involved with fentanyl,” Lautenbach said.
A unified command system is a way of managing a major incident so that agencies work together and don’t duplicate or hamper each other’s progress.
Most recently, Whatcom County used a unified command system in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A similar command strategy was used on a smaller scale to assist with recent flooding on the Nooksack River.
“This isn’t a full Whatcom Unified Command but it is something that is leveling with the intensity of the response that we need and making sure that we have the communication necessary to make sure that we are in good communication and to understand how we can all support the effort efficiently,” Lautenbach said.
Street drug of choice
Fentanyl, a cheap and powerful synthetic opioid, was virtually unheard of five years ago but now has replaced heroin as the street drug of choice locally and across the U.S.
Overdoses and deaths have been rising at an alarming rate. Whatcom County overdose deaths increased to 89 in 2022, up from 50 in 2021, according to the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office.
A little more than half of those deaths were linked to fentanyl, records show.
Accurate figures for 2023 were not immediately available, but Bellingham firefighters are treating patients for suspected overdoses at the rate of 2.5 a day this year, Fleetwood told the City Council in an April 10 meeting.
As recently as 2019 — one year before the pandemic — there were 17 total deaths by overdose in Whatcom County, with just four linked to fentanyl, according to data from the medical examiner.
Earlier this week, the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that a 5-year-old Ferndale girl died from fentanyl intoxication. It’s not yet clear how she ingested the drug. Her biological parents and the mother’s boyfriend face murder charges in the case.
A new approach
In an email, Fleetwood told The Bellingham Herald that Bellingham officials “are actively engaged in organizing a comprehensive response” with Whatcom County officials and other organizations.
“Fentanyl and other deadly and highly addictive drugs are circulating nationwide and in Whatcom County, and are contributing to public health, emergency services capacity, and public safety concerns in our community,” Fleetwood said.
“We have been tracking this carefully and have now initiated, with our key partners, a comprehensive approach to addressing this emergency that is becoming so devastating in our communities,” he said.
To further address the crisis, statewide health officials are planning a two-day symposium in June to focus on fentanyl, said Dr. Greg Thompson, the county’s top doctor.
It will be anchored by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, Thompson told the County Council at the May 2 Health Board meeting.
“They will be presenting material in the morning remotely that’s going to be shared across the state, and we are going to be one of 10 regional sites that’s going to have local content in the afternoon,” he said.
“This going to be hopefully just the initiation process of a community dialogue,” Thompson said.
This story was originally published May 5, 2023 at 12:12 PM.
