Children’s fentanyl exposure on the rise in Oregon

Many health care professionals and providers in Northeast Oregon have said early childhood exposures to fentanyl is not something they’ve had happen within their counties. Umatilla County appears to be the outlier, having managed a pair of serious cases of early childhood exposure to fentanyl.

Steve Hardin, the senior manager for the emergency room at St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton, said the hospital has experience in dealing with early childhood exposures to fentanyl.

“Yes, we had two children that had to be shipped out on Narcan continuous drips,” he said.

Hardin said there are unique challenges in treating children who have been exposed to fentanyl.

“In children you do not have to worry about them being addicted so you don’t have to worry about the patient going into withdrawal,” he said. “Also, due to their small size, their level of exposure is much greater than an adult so it takes a very large dose of Narcan to reverse the opioid.”

Shelly Cutler, Eastern Oregon senior specialist in marketing and communications for Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City, said it isn’t something the hospital has had to deal with.

“Thankfully, we haven’t had any cases at Saint Alphonsus in Baker,” she said.

Jessica Winegar, a public health administrator for Community Counseling Solutions in John Day, said childhood exposure to fentanyl isn’t something that has happened in Grant Country that she is aware of.

A spokesperson for the Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande, said the hospital doesn’t have any information about the subject.

Jonathan Modie, the Oregon Health Authority’s public health communications representative, said early childhood exposures to fentanyl is not something the agency tracks.

Oregon Heath & Science University senior media relations specialist Nicole Rideout said the poison center at OHSU is the public agency tasked with tracking early childhood fentanyl exposures on a statewide level. The poison center then shares that information with the Oregon Health Authority and county agencies, according to Rideout.

Poison center sees the rise

The poison center at OHSU has been tracking early childhood exposures to fentanyl since 2016 and published its report due to concerns over rising early childhood fentanyl exposures.

“I can’t speak for everyone at the institution but certainly those at OPC and the OHSU providers who are in the weeds of this public health crisis are extremely concerned about this increase,” Rideout said. “This concern is precisely why OPC chose to publish this report, promote the findings and share key strategies to prevent opioid overdoses.”

OHSU specifically excluded early childhood exposures that occurred as a result of prescribed drugs, all of the cases outlined in the report are the result of illicit exposures, according to Rideout.

Union County commissioner sees effects

Union County Commissioner Paul Anderes has seen the effects of the ongoing fentanyl epidemic firsthand. A former teacher, Anderes said during a March meeting with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek he’s seen six of his former students die due to overdoses.

Anderes said he believes the passage of Measure 110 in November 2020 has made the fentanyl epidemic worse as well as contributing to the rise in early childhood fentanyl exposures.

“I have zero doubt,” he said.

Anderes also questions just how many cases of childhood exposures there truly were in the state. The commissioner said he doesn’t doubt there were 16 cases managed by the Poison Center, but he said he believes the true number of exposures is likely much higher.

“Part of it for me, when you think about it, those are the ones that were reported and (we) know about,” he said. “How many were either diagnosed differently or in different places and didn’t get recorded in that specific manner.

“I don’t doubt that there were 16, but I would suggest that there’s significantly more than that,” he added.

The recent repeal and reform of Measure 110 will go a long way toward helping deal with the fentanyl epidemic in Oregon, according to Anderes. But in addition, he said something needs to be done to stem the flow of the drug into Oregon communities.

“Our drug laws need to be strengthened even more than they have been in the last legislative session,” he said. “I also think that we need to work on the supply side that I talked about. Really work on having a concentrated concerted effort to eliminate the supply coming into our communities.”

Anderes said he knows the cost of a fentanyl pill in Union County is a mere $1, putting the powerful drug within reach of even the most economically challenged.

Along with stemming the flow of drugs into Oregon, Anderes said the state needs strong treatment programs that are widely available along with relaying to the public that they can’t trust their dealer due to the prevalence of fentanyl in other illicit drugs such as methamphetamines and cocaine.