This brief discusses how Ocean County, New Jersey, uses ODMAP data in Overdose Fatality Reviews (OFR).
This publication by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), along with Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) and ODMAP (Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program), discusses the use of ODMAP data in Ocean County, New Jersey. In 2018, Ocean County, New Jersey, was experiencing unprecedented numbers of overdoses. To combat the rising numbers of nonfatal and fatal overdoses, the Ocean County Health Department (OCHD) became the first in New Jersey to conduct an overdose fatality review (OFR). The OFR provided an innovative process that looked to identify overdose themes in the county. The Ocean County Overdose Fatality Review Program (OC-OFRP) is a comprehensive initiative to gain qualitative data on the life experiences of residents who died from fatal overdoses to reduce overdose deaths. If the county could ascertain root causes for overdose, then it could develop truly impactful recommendations for programs and policies to save lives. Over the past several years, OFRs have become an effective tool to identify ways to make local-level change.