Overdoses continue to plague the area, according to David Manning, Assistant Fire Chief of the Paint Creek Joint EMS and Fire District.
"So far for this year, we've had 99 overdoses; in the same time period in 2016 we had 28," said Manning. "In the last two weeks, we've seen a significant upswing from 35 ..., and, in 2016, we had 11 for the same time period."
Manning said they responded to approximately four fatals within that two week span. This is just from the Joint EMS and Fire District's coverage area, which includes Hillsboro, Greenfield, and a total of 9 townships within Highland, Fayette, and Ross counties.
And when it comes to the price of the opioid reversal medication Narcan?
"Narcan costs us about $38 a dose," said Manning, "and some of the overdoses are taking 3 and 4 doses of Narcan to bring them out of it."