The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office presents further visual proof of the opioid epidemic’s impact on nearly every community with our latest update to the online map of emergency overdose incidents.
This online interactive map at THIS ADDRESS now shows emergency overdose reports in Lancaster County since Jan. 1, 2014.
Most recently, the map was updated with 555 overdose incidents between March 16 and July 15. In all, there are approximately 6,500 markings on the map.
The marking points represent emergency responses to reported overdose incidents. Not all necessarily involved heroin/opioids and fatalities are not designated.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office spearheaded the mapping project which consists of Lancaster County-Wide Communications data based on dispatches and responses. The Lancaster County GIS Department assisted with data sorting and mapping of the incidents.
“It is striking there are so many more markings on this map, and we cannot forget that each one is not just a statistic,” Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said Friday. “But the reality is this epidemic has not slowed. We must continue our unified push toward collaborative solutions with all aspects and professions from our communities. Anyone reading this can play a role in slowing this scourge.
“Our first-responders and medical professionals are really feeling the brunt of this from a resource perspective, and we are committed to doing everything we can to make sure predatory drug dealers face real consequences because they are harming and killing people for money.”
The online map is presented as an awareness and prevention tool.
Again, the incident markings on the map are not categorized by incident severity or type of drug involved in the reported overdose incident. It is likely not all of these reports were in fact active overdose incidents when emergency responders arrived at the location.
The map was designed to deliberately exclude and protect the identities of those patients involved and their exact addresses.
The map is updated regularly with new report data.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright