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With an opioid crisis sweeping the nation, Ontario hospitals will begin tracking opioid overdoses on a weekly basis and sharing that information across the Province.

Hamilton is already ahead of the curve, they began compiling weekly data in January and say provincial data will help them plan their response.

Dr. Jessica Hopkins is an Associate Medical Officer of Health for the City of Hamilton, she says that a lack of data was limiting what the city knew about the opioid impact in Hamilton.

Just last month, the city became aware of a new drug that is widely available called “Take Over” which is crack laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl.

And now armed with weekly provincial data, they hope to get ahead of the next deadly street drug.

The new data helps them make a good case for a $69-thousand dollar increase in their budget. Public Health has told the city that the new money will help make the life saving antidote, Naloxone, more available and distribute the antidote on Sundays.

Data from the Chief Coroner’s Office for last year hasn’t come in yet but preliminary numbers suggest 710 people died from opioid overdose in Ontario in 2015 and 47 of those deaths happened in Hamilton.

Dr. Clements Sun works with an addictions centre in Hamilton. He blames fentanyl and carfentanil for 8 accidental overdose deaths during the past two years.

Dr. Sun says, “We have been observing this and we have been kind of alarmed in that we knew there was no coordinated effort in this and there needs to be. The death rate is going to rise to the highest level we’ve ever seen. ”

He says the sharing of information is an essential first step to getting ahead of the crisis but the key to prevention is education.