The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added fentanyl-specific codes on Oct. 1, 2020.
Prior to this, epidemiologist Daniel Galanis with the Hawaiʻi Department of Health said health care workers came closest to identifying fentanyl-related poisonings in hospital documentation through T40.2, code for “poisoning by other opioids.” Other in this case means not opium, heroin, or methadone.
Big Island Now reached out to hospitals regarding overdose data. Hilo Medical Center spokesperson Elena Cabatu said the hospital doesnʻt keep a breakdown of the kinds of overdoses or drug-related cases as they are not required to track them.
Kona Community Hospital didn’t provide overdose data from their facility by press time.
Big Island Now also reached out to Hawaiʻi Fire Department regarding its use of naloxone. Fire officials say they began using the nasal spray about 17 years ago. HFD hasn’t kept track of overdose data but hope to do so in the future with a new recording system.
The data below is from the Hawaiʻi Department of Health.
Young lives on the Big Island are being lost to drug… November 6, 2022 
