AUSTIN, Texas — Travis County released new research on Tuesday showing unmet mental health needs as one of the risk factors that contributed to more than 400 accidental overdose deaths in 2022.
This comes as County staff work to find funding and a location for a new mental health diversion center.
Earlier this year, the KVUE Defenders explored how a diversion center would divert those accused of low-level crimes to get help instead of going to jail.
One of the main elected officials behind that long-term project is Travis County Judge Andy Brown, who also requested the analysis of County data.
But instead of waiting for the long-term project to come online, elected officials and medical experts say more needs to be done now to try to stop what they call preventable deaths.
County research shows there were 417 accidental drug overdose deaths in Travis County in 2022. Out of that, 89 people experienced a jail stay in 2021 and/or 2022, prior to their accidental overdose death.
The research also shows 27%, or 24 people out of the 417, also received some mental health services while in jail.
In a press conference held at the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, County leaders said being unhoused, having mental health issues and being incarcerated put people at a higher risk for accidental overdose deaths. They discussed ways to help, like expanding Narcan distribution and providing support services to people leaving jail.
"We want to make sure that there is a warm handoff to care, mental health care, substance use, medically assisted treatment, injectables, things like that," Brown said.
Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez said treatment in jail is not enough.
"We know that detox is vital to the rehabilitation process, and detox takes a minimum of five to seven days. Many people in our custody will bond out before they've had the opportunity to fully detox. In fact, out of the 89 people who died of an overdose after being in custody, 31 suffered their deadly overdose within 60 days of leaving our facility. More than half of them were in custody less than 10 days," Hernandez said.
Dr. Nicholas Yagoda is the chief medical officer for CommUnity Care, a nonprofit that provides medical services for the underserved. He gave a couple ideas on how to help those at risk now.
"We note that these statistics are people, people who died and people who leave behind loved ones. In any next step, we need a space to mourn those from our community who've lost. Second, medicines and medicines for opioid-use disorder save lives. Among those, Naloxone, as mentioned, has reversed countless overdoses in our community already. But how do we expand access further?" Yagoda said.
Brown also said one of the ways to stop these preventable deaths is by diverting people with mental illness or substance abuse disorder to get help instead of jail.
He has also called on Gov. Greg Abbott to legalize fentanyl testing strips in a special session.
Travis County Commissioners Margaret Gomez, Brigid Shea and Ann Howard were in attendance Tuesday, as well as Dr. Desmar Walkes, the health authority for Austin-Travis County.
The analysis was compiled by justice and public safety planners Valerie Hollier, Efrain Davila, Terrika Mitchell and Jhocyn Nicholas.