Online database in Charleston County provides real-time data on opioid overdoses

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – A new online dashboard from The Charleston Center is designed to help in the fight against opioid overdoses.

“We wanted to give the community real-time data on the opioid overdoses that are happening in Charleston County,” explained Kelley Grobmyer, program manager for The Charleston Center. “The first thing you might notice on the overview on the first page is that every eight hours, on average, an overdose occurs.”

That means three overdoses occur per day in Charleston County alone. The dashboard shows 174 suspected overdose deaths happened in the county last year – that’s basically a plane full of people.

“If we had a plane crashing full of people once a year in Charleston County, people would be very concerned,” said Grobmyer.

This new dashboard also provides locations where people can pick up free Narcan. Narcan can save lives. You can see from the graphs that those who were treated with Narcan had about a 90% survival rate from their overdose compared to those who did not receive Narcan.

“I think the interesting thing about Narcan is it’s a prevention too, yes. But it doesn’t mean that because you have it, you’re in use or your families are in use. We’ve had examples where people who have gone to our training just carry it with them. And we had a woman who saved a man’s life at a gas station last year, and she called to thank us because she received that Narcan at one of our trainings,” said Dean Stephens with Wake Up Carolina.

“Our goal is that the citizens, everybody in the general public, are more aware that this is occurring and that they reach out for resources,” said Grobmyer.

You can view the online dashboard by clicking here.