122 unhoused people have died in Santa Cruz County over the course of 2023, with 61 of those deaths attributed to fentanyl-related accidental overdoses. While friends, family and community members gathered Thursday to pay respects, speakers also expressed the need for better access to housing, health care and harm reduction.
opioid crisis
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Health, law enforcement officials outline ever-deadlier toll of county’s escalating fentanyl surge
Law enforcement and public health data show the local opioid crisis persisting, and even worsening in some aspects. Despite some troubling trends, though, local programs to prevent overdoses and educate the public on the risks of fentanyl have become more accessible and common around the county.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Sacramento court halts local syringe distribution program run by harm reduction coalition
The Sacramento Superior Court’s decision is the latest development in a years-long legal battle between a Santa Cruz neighborhood group and the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County. The ruling is expected to reverberate beyond Santa Cruz County as other California communities face similar legal wrangling over private groups offering clean-needle programs.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘Crisis of epidemic proportions’: Families, survivors, workers share personal stories of opioid struggles
Nearly 100 community members and service providers came to Watsonville Community Hospital on Thursday afternoon for an International Overdose Awareness Day event. In addition to 21 harm-reduction and substance-use support organizations, a number of people directly affected by the opioid crisis shared their stories, urging awareness and prevention.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz County readies to spend millions from opioid settlement funds starting next year
As Santa Cruz County awaits about $26 million in funds stemming from national lawsuits against pharmacies, drug manufacturers and distributors, residents say they want to see that money go toward treatment facilities and supporting vulnerable groups as the dollars roll in over the next decade.
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How I Got My Job: Case manager Andres Galvan on confronting housing, addiction and mental health crises
Mental health client specialist Andres Galvan works at the intersection of Santa Cruz County’s mental health, homelessness and drug-overdose crises. Now almost 17 years in recovery himself, Galvan understands the importance of counselors and others who work in the mental health and addictions fields treating clients with empathy and compassion. “You can’t just go out there for the paycheck,” he says. “Your heart has got to be in it because you’re going to come across some difficult things. You got to keep that open mind and that’s a difficult task.”
Posted inLatest News
What’s in illegal drugs? A UCLA team takes testing to the streets to find out
The UCLA study is bringing a sophisticated machine traditionally used in laboratories to the streets, road testing a public health strategy that has gained more urgent attention as deadly overdoses have surged.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
New Santa Cruz County health officer Lisa Hernandez on how data can help solve our biggest health challenges
After working in obstetrics and gynecology for four years, Lisa Hernandez soon realized that she had a true passion for addressing public health at the community level. Since then, she has worked in a number of public health positions, including a three year stint in Santa Cruz County from 2013 to 2016. Now, she returns as health officer. Lookout caught up with her ahead of her first day on the job.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz County reports first local death linked to potent animal tranquilizer xylazine
Santa Cruz County’s public health department is warning of an increasing prevalence of xylazine in the local drug supply. The powerful sedative isn’t an opioid and doesn’t respond to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. The warning comes after the death of a San Jose woman in Santa Cruz in early June and as the county recently reported that overdoses hit their highest rate in more than a year.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
As Big Pharma opioid settlement cash trickles into county coffers, officials turn to community for input
The first installment of the more than $26 million Santa Cruz County is due from a national settlement is in the county’s 2023-24 budget, and residents will be surveyed on how they’d like to see it spent.