2024 National Forum on Overdose Fatality Review
Forum Presentation Slides
Any resources provided by the speakers will be available below.
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2024 OFR National Forum: Deflection and Overdose Fatality Review Synergy: Panel Discussion and Open Forum
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Deflection is a collaborative intervention connecting public safety and public health systems to create community-based pathways to treatment for people who have substance use disorders (SUDs), mental health disorders, and other service needs without their entry into the justice system. Deflection provides communities with an alternative set of tools and approaches that can be used in concert with an overdose fatality review (OFR) to address SUDs, especially where OFRs have revealed interaction with first responders or the criminal legal system as a commonality in aggregate and case-level data. This interactive, moderated discussion will delve into the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from Erie County, Ohio, and Hancock County, Ohio, in utilizing OFRs and deflection as complementary tools to address SUDs within their communities. Moderated by Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities’ (TASC) Center for Health and Justice, this discussion will provide audiences with a knowledge base of deflection and using it alongside OFR to improve community outcomes.
This presentation was in concurrent session 7. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Advancing Health Equity Discussion and Listening Session
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Overdose fatality review (OFR) teams are encouraged to integrate health equity approaches throughout the OFR process. Health equity is the “state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Achieving this requires focused and ongoing societal efforts to address historical and contemporary injustices; overcome economic, social, and other obstacles to health and healthcare; and eliminate preventable health disparities.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Health Equity) This facilitated session seeks to support OFR teams in their ongoing awareness and intentional practice of health equity. Participants will share their experiences and engage in a community of practice to discuss challenges integrating health equity into the OFR process. Participants will also gain awareness of elements in the OFR data management system that support contextual understanding of social determinants of health.
Specific objectives of the session are to (1) facilitate a discussion about the experiences and strategies OFR teams use to integrate health equity into OFRs, (2) discuss challenges, barriers, solutions, and lessons learned in implementing health equity approaches into the OFR process, and (3) develop case examples and tips to integrate health equity based on the facilitated discussion
Presentation from the 2024 OFR National Forum Concurrent Session 1. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Closing Remarks
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
This session will share forum highlights and allow participants to share their experiences attending the OFR National Forum.
This is the wrap up National Forum. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Day 1 Federal Welcome
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
This presentation covers the opening remarks, federal welcome, and small action can lead to big change.
This presentation was a combination of the welcome for day 1 of OFR National Forum. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Day 2 Welcome and Partnering Across State and Local Overdose Fatality Reviews
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
This presentation covers the welcome by Ryan K. Buchanan and the opening plenary, Partnering Across State and Local Overdose Fatality Reviews. Together with national support, state and local health departments are identifying and implementing recommendations to prevent substance-related deaths in communities across the country. Many state agencies, in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) training and technical assistance provider, are building state-level infrastructure to support local overdose fatality reviews (OFRs). This session will highlight resources and tools available to partner across state and local OFRs.
This is the welcome on day 2 and plenary 2. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Embedding Lived Experience in an Overdose Fatality Review: Guidance and Facilitated Discussion
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Intentionally including individuals with lived experience allows for a more complete understanding of what effective community change can and should look like. People with lived experience (PWLE) bring a unique and necessary perspective, humanize the data, and reduce stigma associated with substance use disorder. PWLE can safely participate in and bring valuable insights into all aspects of the overdose fatality review (OFR) process. This session will provide recommendations and guidance on how to meaningfully involve persons with lived experience of substance use in the OFR process.
This presentation was in concurrent session 4. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Expanding Overdose Fatality Reviews to Include Suicides: Discussion and Open Forum
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) was recently awarded funds to partner with existing overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) to establish and implement suicide fatality reviews (SFRs) to identify missed opportunities for prevention and intervention among those who died by suicide and to develop and disseminate national SFR guidance, tools, and technical assistance. This session will include an overview of the project, group discussions, and a listening session. Sites that are currently reviewing suicide deaths and/or are interested in expanding their OFRs to include suicides are encouraged to attend this session to learn more about the project, share lessons learned, and ask questions about getting started.
This presentation was in concurrent session 6. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Harm Reduction and Awareness Campaigns
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Thought to Action: Reigniting In-person Coalition Work and Overdose Spike Alert Response in the Post-COVID-19 Emergency Era
Forum attendees interested in gaining insight into a successful example of multiple agencies, task forces, and committees synergizing their resources around a common goal should attend this presentation. Attendees will hear a firsthand perspective from someone intimately involved in several systemic touchpoints that resulted in the implementation of a fatality review committee (FRC) recommendation. Dutchess County, New York, utilized its opioid task force, related subcommittee, and FRC to bring together agency leadership, epidemiologists, peers, providers, and law enforcement to commit resources in a thoughtful manner to provide an outreach response in the event of an overdose spike in the county.
Tackling a Crisis Through Collaboration: Addressing the Overdose Epidemic in Cobb County, Georgia
Cobb County, in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, has consistently experienced among the highest number of deadly overdoses in the state, most of which have involved opioids. The district attorney's office received a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant to develop an opioid fatality review panel, which in its first meeting recommended addressing the lack of community education and awareness around the overdose epidemic. Working closely with the local public health agency and using as a model the Erie County, New York, opioid response strategy, a countywide coalition was established, ushering in a community-based collaborative effort to educate, inform, equip, and empower the community to stem the tide of deadly overdoses. Combining the efforts of public health, first response, behavioral health, law enforcement, and affiliated agencies has resulted in a truly comprehensive approach that has increased awareness and provided actionable tools and resources across the entire county.
Presentation from the 2024 OFR National Forum Concurrent Session 3. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Health Equity in Action
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Engaging LGBTQIA+ Youth for Community-level Change
The Scott County, Indiana, Overdose Fatality Review Team identified that supports for the LGBTQIA+ youth population were needed to reduce the incidence of substance use onset and progression of substance use disorders. A local mental health provider created a space for youth that identify as LGBTQIA+ to voice concerns and learn skills in organizing to improve health outcomes. The youth created a plan for items that would aid them in seeking health equality and have successfully completed two of three goals for the year. The third goal is still ongoing.
Data-informed Overdose Prevention Efforts for the Latinx Population
The Riverside County, California, Overdose Data to Action (RODA) Program’s overdose fatality review (OFR) multidisciplinary team meets monthly to review selected overdose cases within a pre-identified focus area, informed through monthly surveillance data trends (e.g., individuals experiencing homelessness, African-American/Black women, in-custody deaths). At each OFR meeting, data trends are presented and utilized to facilitate discussions on those themes to inform recommendations for those populations. Overdose deaths among the Latinx population increased by 55 percent from 2020 to 2023. To address this alarming increase, RODA developed partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs) with expertise in conducting outreach with Latinx communities. Utilizing Promotores, the CBOs delivered substance use prevention and harm reduction education. Preliminary data shows that there has been a decrease in o
Presentation from the 2024 OFR National Forum Concurrent Session 2. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Lodging, Hospitality, and Nontraditional Partner Outreach
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Revitalizing Hope: Collaborative Outreach Strategies for Overdose Prevention in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Motels
This presentation highlights community collaboration and meaningful prevention efforts aimed at reducing overdose fatalities in Monmouth County, New Jersey, motels. Discover more about how the data-driven recommendation identified by the Monmouth County Overdose Fatality Review Team led to fostering community partnerships, the provision of naloxone and other resources, and increased capacity to combat overdoses in Monmouth County.
Hotels, Motels, and Everywhere in Between: A Community Response for Community Overdose
This session will focus on the shift of fatal overdose locations from primarily in residence to public locations within Ocean County, New Jersey, and how the Ocean County Overdose Fatality Review Program developed and evolved different initiatives throughout the years to provide community education and information and empower local response.
This presentation was in concurrent session 6. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Naloxone Distribution
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Lucas County, Ohio, Corrections Center Naloxone Vending Machine Project
After identifying a concerning increase in overdose fatalities within a week to several months of leaving incarceration, the Toledo-Lucas County, Ohio, Overdose Fatality Review Committee made a recommendation to create access to naloxone for inmates, a practice that was ended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the help of community partners and a Bureau of Justice Assistance initiative, Lucas County implemented a multilevel approach to make naloxone available, including the implementation of a vending machine.
Post-fatal Incident: How Coroners Can Play a Role in Overdose Prevention
This presentation examines Berkeley County, South Carolina, trends in generational/social substance use within households, highlighting a strategic recommendation to leverage county coroners for prevention. Learn how county coroners are actively involved in providing naloxone and treatment resources to households affected by recent fatal overdose cases. The presenters will delve into the collaborative efforts of prevention teams addressing household opioid availability and discuss the additional considerations for an on-scene peer recovery support specialist.
Presentation from the 2024 OFR National Forum Concurrent Session 2. -
2024 OFR National Forum: New to Overdose Fatality Review: Everything You Need to Know to Be Successful
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
This session is designed for professionals wanting to start an overdose fatality review (OFR) or in the early stages of implementing an OFR. The goal of the session is to give an overview of the resources and trainings that are available for OFRs and allow individuals to ask questions to address challenges or about where to get started.
This presentation was at the 2024 OFR National Forum, concurrent session 1. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Next-of-Kin Engagement and Support
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Supporting Families After an Overdose Loss in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin: Social Workers at the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office
The Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Overdose Fatality Review Team identified a lack of support services for families experiencing an overdose loss. Through multiagency collaboration, a social work position was piloted and then expanded into two positions with Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) funding received by the medical examiner’s office. Since September 2021, the social workers have reached out to families who have lost someone to overdose and successfully reached more than three out of four families. Families are provided grief and bereavement support as well as referrals to county and community agencies to address specific needs voiced by the families, including individualized therapy, risk of overdose among other family members, and guardianship support. This session will describe the evolution of the social work positions, including the addition of next-of-kin interviews, and share lessons learned for communities considering similar positions.
Losing a Loved One to an Overdose: Grief and Loss Support Group
After a death caused by substance use, people experience grief as others do after the death of a beloved person from any cause. A substance-use-related death also can bring with it challenges and hardships in coping with grief that are unique to this kind of loss. This presentation will discuss how Hamilton County, Ohio, Public Health’s overdose fatality review and next-of-kin interviews found that support for family and friends was critical after an overdose fatality. The presenters will also discuss the creation of the Grief and Loss Support Group for overdose death, partnerships, and sustainability.
This presentation was in concurrent session 3. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Opioid Affected Youth Initiatives
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
From Recommendation to Implementation: The Funding and Development of the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Alliance
The profound negative impact of parental drug and alcohol use and misuse, significant childhood trauma, and adolescent drug and alcohol use were some of the earliest trends, discussions, and recommendations of the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Team. This presentation will discuss the OFR data that spurred and supported OFR recommendations surrounding the need for increased education and awareness of children impacted by parental drug and alcohol use and misuse, as well as ensuring that these youth are being properly identified and effectively linked to the resources and services they need. The partnership with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children (DEC) and multiyear pursuit of grants to fund this recommendation through the development of a proposed Lackawanna County DEC Alliance will be examined, as well as the first year of the implementation of this OFR recommendation-based initiative, which was successfully funded by an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Opioid Affected Youth grant in October 2022.
Camp FUN! Hancock County, Ohio’s Approach to Creating Connections for Youth Impacted by Addiction
In 2021, during a review of overdose fatalities in Hancock County, Ohio, it became evident that there was a significantly growing number of children and youth who were directly impacted by the overdose experience of a parent, close relative, or guardian. Knowing that family history of substance use is an indicator of future risk, community members rallied to create an opportunity for children and youth with this shared experience to gather and spend time together in a friendly, understanding, and nurturing environment—creating a unique space for prevention. This workshop will demonstrate how Hancock County created Camp FUN as a unique biannual experience for children and youth to simply be together, make connections, and find hope in a challenging world.
This presentation was in concurrent session 5. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Overdose Fatality Review Data System: Findings and Resources for Implementation
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
The Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Data System has emerged as a powerful tool, offering a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to understanding overdose fatalities and informing evidence-based strategies for prevention. The OFR Data System collects and summarizes data surrounding overdose fatalities, encompassing not only individual-level data but also contextual factors and contributing circumstances. Data sources include medical examiner reports, law enforcement investigations, toxicology results, social and health care service use, and demographic information. The multidisciplinary collaboration ensures a well-rounded and holistic assessment of each overdose case, elucidating the root causes and risk factors involved. Armed with this knowledge, public health and public safety experts, policymakers, and health care providers can tailor prevention strategies to address specific vulnerabilities within communities. These identified recommendations are also entered and tracked in the OFR Data System. This session will provide an overview of the OFR Data System, how to access it and resources available for analysis, and why collecting and summarizing and reporting on data, findings, and recommendations from individual case reviews, next-of-kin interviews, and community context are important activities of OFRs.
This presentation was in concurrent session 7. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Overview of Overdose Fatality Review Model Law and Implementation: Panel Discussion and Open Forum
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
Beginning in 2020, the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) undertook an ongoing research project to identify both currently-in-force statutes and recently proposed legislation related to overdose fatality review (OFR) throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, titled “Overdose Fatality Review Boards: State Laws” (previously updated in February 2021). This presentation provides updated information through December 2023.
Grand Ballroom
This presentation was in concurrent session 4. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Peers’ Role in Prevention: Discussion and Open Forum
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
We Heart You: Catalysts of Change
This presentation will cover the multiple recommendations that the Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Team implemented to drive community change. With the team’s motto of “We Heart You,” it has given people a way to know that it cares about them no matter how many times they need help and where along the spectrum of recovery they are. From exploring an overdose mapping system to trying to implement a rapid response team, it took pivoting from unsuccessful pilots and meeting with stakeholders to find a successful end result that saves lives. The presentation will highlight the Solutions Peer Response Team, which is a 24/7 rapid response program that is peer-led and peer-driven and meets people where they are most vulnerable. Through a partnership with the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office, the pilot program not only addressed needs that the jail was not able to solve itself but has expanded to fund peers in the jail and to create a recovery pod. Come learn how OFR recommendations can be catalysts of community change through partnerships and knowing when to pivot.
This presentation was in concurrent session 5. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Tribal Community Needs and Approaches in Implementing Overdose Fatality Reviews: Discussion and Listening Session
Forum Presentation - 3/13/2024
This listening session and roundtable discussion delve into the distinct needs and challenges confronted by tribal communities when undertaking overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) or engaging in neighboring jurisdictions’ OFRs. Throughout the session, participants will actively engage in discussions uncovering the barriers that impede the successful implementation of OFRs within tribal contexts. In addition, the session will highlight promising tribal approaches that can serve as models for initiating or enhancing OFRs. The outcomes of this discussion aim to shape future training, technical assistance, and resources to help tribes implement OFRs or partner with others effectively in this critical area. Seize this opportunity to enrich the collective understanding of tribal needs concerning OFRs, and play a pivotal role in advancing tribal capabilities in OFR implementation or enhancement.
This presentation was in concurrent session 5 and 6. -
2024 OFR National Forum: Using Data to Understand Community Context
Article - 3/13/2024
This presentation highlights four speakers and their work around using data to understand community context.
This presentation was plenary 1 for the forum.