WARREN — Although some numbers seem to indicate fewer accidental drug overdoses occurred in Trumbull County in the first three months of 2018 than in 2017, one county official is worried it’s just because fewer people are going to the hospital.

Frustrated for years about holes in the ability to track non-fatal overdoses in the county, April Caraway, executive director of the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said data compiled through a hospital reporting system fails to count the people who refuse transportation by ambulance to the hospital or never call 911 in the first place.

“Compared to last March, our numbers are way down. There were 22 all of March, compared to 189 last March,” Caraway said. “But even though I am hopeful the numbers appear to be down, I am afraid it is a false positive.”

Counting the fatal overdoses in Trumbull County hasn’t been too difficult because the Trumbull County Coronor’s Office shares the statistics, Caraway said. But compiling numbers for non-fatal overdoses has been a struggle, she said.

In late 2016, the Trumbull County Combined Health District added a new codifier to the state’s EpiCenter program, which tracks health trends in the state by requiring hospitals to code the reason for a patient’s visit and submit it to the system. By adding the overdose codifier, more overdoses could be counted. However, that only works when a person is admitted to a hospital. Many times, an ambulance responds to the scene of an overdose and revives the person, who then refuses transportation to the hospital, so their overdose isn’t counted. Others may receive a dose of Narcan — an opioid overdose reversal drug — from a friend or family member, who doesn’t report the overdose.

“There are so many different ambulance companies in the county, how could we possibly go to all of them for the data?” Caraway said.

But another county official, Ernie Cook, the director of the Trumbull County 911 Center, said his office can help.

“We will come up with a code for all of the overdose calls and we can run a report for her, as frequently as she wants, and send her all of those numbers,” Cook said.

Although the county center doesn’t dispatch for Niles and Lordstown, Cook said he can still draw on data from the city and village because they are connected through a system. The only community in the county the center won’t be able to pull data from is Girard, Cook said.

Caraway said the news is “excellent” and she will provide Cook with a written request for the data this coming week.

Access to data helps agencies like Caraway’s plan for crisis times when many are overdosing in a short period of time, ensuring detoxification centers have spots available and hospitals and ambulance companies are prepared for an onslaught of calls.

Those who are ready to seek help for addiction can call the Coleman Access Center any time of day or night for an assessment, screening and program referral at 330-392-1100 or 211. Narcan and training on how to administer it can be obtained through the Trumbull County Combined Health District by calling 330-675-2590, Option 3.