Hospital director: Overdose cases 'off the charts'

JFRD transports 1,481 with overdose or drug poisoning so far in 2017

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Almost every day, emergency rooms of hospitals in and around Jacksonville see a patient in distress after shooting heroin laced with fentanyl.

Since the beginning of the year, Jacksonville Fire Rescue said it has transported more than 1,400 people to area hospitals as a result of an overdose. Of those, 85 have been taken to Orange Park Medical Center, which also takes patients from Clay County and other areas.

Dr. Stephen Goodfriend, medical director at Orange Park Medical Center, said some patients brought in were driving while overdosing.

"Since 6 o'clock (this morning), we’ve seen three opioid overdoses that we are treating right now," Goodfriend said at 1 p.m. Tuesday. "I've never seen these numbers before. We are usually getting maybe one or two a month, and it's just off the charts right now."

JFRD said it has taken another 222 overdose patience to OPMC's Park West stand-alone emergency room on 103rd Street in Jacksonville.

Overdose patients vary in age, but many of them are teenagers. It's painful for seasoned medical personnel to see.

"These are young patients that sometimes don’t make it. We give them the antidote and it's too late. We have to talk to their family and tell them what happened," Goodfriend said. "This is a young, viable person who is someone's son or daughter who had a great life ahead of them."

Other emergency rooms are also challenged by the growing number of overdose patients, including 305 that JFRD has taken to UF Health Jacksonville, 242 taken to Memorial Hospital, and 141 to St. Vincent's Medical Center.

Scroll over map below to see number of JFRD overdose
transports this year to each hospital in metro Jacksonville.

The overdose cases have a ripple effect into other departments. The intensive care units are feeling the stress because, sometimes, the drugs are so powerful the person suffers severe, long-term injury, or is even brain dead.

Doctors offer after-care, but according to Goodfriend, many patients are not ready for that option.

Jacksonville City Council is considering a proposal to fund a $1.5 million pilot program to help more patients who want immediate help to battle their addictions.


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