The City of Chula Vista will utilize a new mapping resource to help provide additional information, education, and resources to address the overdose epidemic.
The city’s Fire and Police Departments will utilize the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP), which tracks fatal and nonfatal overdoses to support public safety and public health efforts, city manager Maria Kachadoorian announced during a recent city council meeting. Other cities in the nation utilize the program, which contributes to a national database.
The program comes one month after San Diego County declared illicit use of the pain-management opioid fentanyl a public health crisis.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths are the number one killer of people between the ages of 18 and 45, claiming over 80,000 lives in 2021 alone. San Diego County has seen fentanyl deaths increase by more than 2,300 percent over the last five years – from 33 deaths in 2016 to more than 800 in 2021.
“There are more deaths attributed to fentanyl than COVID, heart disease, gun violence, or car accidents,” said Chula Vista Deputy Chief of Emergency Services Ray Smith. ”The main purpose of ODMAP is to support public safety and health efforts to collaborate and mobilize immediate responses to sudden increases and spikes and overdose incidents.”
The program was developed in 2016 and is only available to state, local, deferral, and tribal agencies serving the interest of public safety and health as a part of their official mandate, including licensed first responders and hospitals. Participating agencies sign a data-sharing agreement designed to protect data within the system.
The information provided within the program is protected from public knowledge.
According to Sandy Tutt, a Public Health Analyst with the CDC Foundation, the ODMAP collects limited data fields. Program operators will input information such as the date and time of the suspected overdose, approximate location, whether Naloxone, the medication used to reverse the effects of an overdose, was administered, and whether the overdose was fatal or nonfatal.
ODMAP does not collect personally identifiable information or personal health information.
According to Tutt, all addresses entered into the system are converted to geocoded locations. The zoom within the program is restricted so that users cannot view precise locations.
Although Chula Vista is neither the first nor last city in San Diego County to use ODMAPS, Gabriel King, Director of the San Diego Imperial Valley High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) said the city would be the first in the county to have both Fire and Police departments utilize the program.
According to Smith, the city’s first responder crews carry Narcan to administer as a nasal spray or intravenously to reverse the effects of an overdose.
“We've been able to go on the offensive and respond or react to these emergencies. This program would add that extra little step that we're looking for to really save lives,” Smith said. “It can notice spikes and trends, then we can respond accordingly through PSAs or any other type of internet-awareness messages.”
During the city council meeting, councilmember Andrea Cardenas shared that two San Diego County residents whom she personally knew passed away from an overdose in the past two weeks.
“The more information is always going to be better. I just want to caution everyone that it is really happening and to be cautious and sympathetic to other people and the struggles they may be facing,” Cardenas said.
