Ketchikan, Alaska (KINY) – A report to the Ketchikan City Council is showing a rising trend in overdose deaths in the region over the past year.
At the May 19 Ketchikan City Council meeting, the council requested that staff obtain and communicate overdose death statistics on a quarterly basis.
Ketchikan Fire Chief Rick Hines issued a memo in response, using information obtained from Public Health Nurse Jennifer Bergen. According to Hines, the information he received shows a substantial increase in deaths from 2020 to 2021.
That memo was presented to the council at their June 2 meeting.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough reported one death each in the years 2019 and 2020, but that number jumped to eight in 2021. Data for 2021 data is provisional, however, and subject to change.
The Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area showed one death in 2020, and one in 2021.
The Southeast Alaska Public Health Region, which includes Haines, Hoonah-Angoon, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Prince of Wales-Hyder, Sitka, Skagway, Wrangell, and Yakutat, saw 11 deaths in 2019 and seven in 2020. That number jumped, however, to 23 in 2021.
“Of the 23 drug overdose deaths in the SE Public Health Region in 2021, 16 involved opioids, 11 involved fentanyl, and 15 the 23 involved methamphetamines,” Hines wrote. “That’s consistent with what we see statewide: nearly 60% of drug overdose deaths across the state involved fentanyl in 2021.”
According to Hines, statistics run a year behind, with 2022 data not available until 2023. The year delay is to ensure that the statistics are validated for accuracy.
