KIPRC data show Fayette County drug overdose spike, underscore importance of real-time local response
Kentucky continues to make meaningful progress in reducing drug overdose deaths statewide, but a recent spike in overdoses in Fayette County shows why rapid, local alerts still matter and why the Kentucky Drug Overdose Alert System (KDOAS), the near-real-time overdose alerting system jointly operated by the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center (KIPRC) and the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH), remains essential.
Between May 21 and May 27, KDOAS flagged an unusual increase in suspected drug overdose activity in Fayette County. During that period, the county recorded 33 suspected nonfatal overdoses and one suspected fatal overdose.
KDOAS combines hospital emergency department data and EMS overdose data to detect spikes in near real time. A KIPRC epidemiologist reviews every potential spike, an analysis process built specifically to filter out false positives, before any alert is confirmed. Once confirmed, KDPH disseminates the alert, along with updated flier templates, to roughly 480 health department, law enforcement, first responder, and community organization staff signed up to receive KDOAS alerts statewide. KIPRC and KDPH developed KDOAS jointly in 2022 and 2023. A full walkthrough of the system's data sources, validation steps, and notification process is available in "Data to Action: How Kentucky Detects and Responds to Drug Overdose Spikes."
Why the Alerts Matter
The Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy's most recent Drug Overdose Fatality Report, prepared by KIPRC, shows the state's fourth consecutive year of declining overdose deaths. But localized drug overdose spikes still emerge quickly, and KDOAS is designed to detect these shifts in as close to real time as possible, with human review at each stage to keep the signal reliable.
When a KDOAS alert is confirmed, KIPRC and KDPH share it with subscribed local partners statewide. This allows partners to increase naloxone distribution, alert outreach teams and service providers, adjust staffing and communication, and share timely information with residents through the pre-cleared public flier that accompanies every alert.
According to Andrew Farrey, a Research Project Manager at KIPRC who designed KDOAS, these alerts are fundamentally about giving communities early awareness when something unusual is happening.
"KDOAS alerts matter for local community response because they provide early situational awareness when drug overdose-related activity is unusually elevated in a community," Farrey said. "The alerts help partners reinforce drug overdose prevention messaging, increase awareness of naloxone availability and coordinate community outreach with organizations closest to the affected area."
KIPRC's role extends beyond issuing alerts. Through the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program, KIPRC supports a network of statewide strategies that help communities respond effectively when alerts occur.
These include:
- FindHelpNow.org, a search engine that shows available substance use disorder treatment slots and recovery housing beds across Kentucky
- Naloxone distribution and training supported by OD2A partners
- County-level dashboards and profiles that help state and local leaders understand trends
- Technical assistance for local health departments responding to drug overdose spikes
Together, these tools ensure that when KDOAS alerts are disseminated, communities have the resources to act.
Farrey emphasized that alerts are not always tied to a single cause, but they are always a signal to pay attention.
"When an alert goes out, we want communities and partners to understand that the data are showing an elevated signal compared with expected activity," he said. "That does not always mean we know why the increase is occurring or whether it will continue. It does mean partners should be aware, consider what they are seeing locally and share the information through relevant outreach, treatment, public safety, emergency medical service, healthcare, and community networks as appropriate."
Who Receives the Alerts
KDOAS alerts go to approximately 480 subscribers with a professional or organizational role in overdose response: state and local health department staff, law enforcement and first responders, and community organizations working in overdose prevention and treatment. Because each alert includes freshly updated, non-public flier content specific to that event, sign-up is limited to those with a substantive operational need for the information.
Members of the public are not enrolled in KDOAS directly, but they benefit indirectly from overdose alerts: every alert is accompanied by a pre-cleared public flier that subscriber organizations are encouraged to share with residents and that news outlets can report on. The public flier disseminated with every KDOAS alert is the intended source for public-facing coverage.
In addition to watching for local alerts through partner organizations, KIPRC recommends carrying naloxone and knowing how to use it, becoming familiar with and sharing resources like FindHelpNow.org, and staying connected through state and local health department or district updates.
This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of cooperative agreement 1 NU17CE010186 totaling $16,222,256 with 0% financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC, HHS, or the U.S. government.
KIPRC, a unique partnership between the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) and the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, serves both as an academic injury prevention research center and as the DPH’s designee or “bona fide agent” for statewide injury prevention and control, focusing on injury prevention translation and practice.