Northampton Co. Heroin & Opioid Task Force subcommittee
Overdose Fatality Review (OFR)
As a member of the Task Force, and partner agency on the OFR team, we work with the Next of Kin. In collaboration with multidisciplinary agencies, the OFR conducts comprehensive reviews to identify system gaps that will assist in overdose fatality prevention and suggest intervention strategies.
The OFR Case Review Process
The OFR involves confidential individual case reviews by a multidisciplinary team. A case review examines the life of the individual who died of a drug overdose. The review includes their activities of daily living, drug use history, comorbidity, major health events, social and emotional trauma, prior arrests, and treatment history. Additionally, other details may be included such as socioeconomic status, education, and work history. Next of Kin interviews provide valuable information to more fully understand the various factors which may have contributed to the fatal overdose.
Because OFR‘s address several public health issues, they identify missed opportunities for prevention and intervention, and the development and implementation of data-driven prevention and intervention strategies. The OFR process will generate information about the decedent and their interactions with services and systems included within the OFR case review.
This information will be utilized to craft recommendations to prevent future overdose fatalities in our community. Examples of successful recommendations include targeted naloxone distribution or integration of peer recovery specialists.
Next of Kin Interview
Families Can Help
If your loved one was a resident of Northampton County at the time of their death by drug overdose, you may be contacted to participate in a voluntary confidential interview. We want to better understand the experiences of our residents who died by an overdose, so that we can learn what we as a community can do to prevent this tragedy from happening. Families can provide valuable insight by providing information about their loved one’s experiences that would not be otherwise known.
The Next of Kin interviewer for the Northampton County Overdose Fatality Review team is Rhonda Miller. Having lost her son Ben to an overdose, Rhonda understands this kind of pain, is able to empathetically listen to your story, give voice to your concerns, and make recommendations for change so that no more families experience this tragedy.
northampton county Heroin and Opioid task force
Our Goal
With oversight provided by the Bethlehem Health Bureau, the Task Force has the goal of creating a multi-faceted approach to reduce overdoses and deaths associated with heroin and opioid use in Northampton County.
By conducting multiple overdose fatality reviews per year, the community will begin to see patterns of need and opportunity, not only within specific areas but across multidisciplinary systems. Blending input from police investigators, public health officials, healthcare providers, next of kin, and the community, the OFR team will work to develop program and policy recommendations to improve coordination and collaboration between different agencies, which will help to prevent future overdose deaths.
The Overdose Fatality Review Team is a subcommittee of the Northampton County Heroin and Opioid Task Force.
Northampton County Overdose Data Report
The Bethlehem Health Bureau site contains information related to drug overdose fatalities of county residents.
The data is utilized to inform the Northampton County Heroin and Opioid Task Force about trends related to drug overdose fatalities so effective programming can be developed to reduce overdoses.
Northampton County Cares
County Memorial Page
Northampton County’s community has been deeply impacted by fentanyl poisoning. To commemorate the lives lost from fentanyl poisoning, we invite you to honor your loved one on this memorial page.