MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — The coroner's office is called whenever there is a death in Monroe County.
Chief Deputy Coroner Amanda Treantafelo is usually one of the people who show up to investigate.
Treantafelo says most of the death cases she's seen are overdoses.
"I've lived in Monroe County my entire life, and I have seen the overdoses grow, and people are dying from this. When I went to school, this thing—fentanyl, xylazine—that stuff wasn't around when I was in school, and now I see a lot of people I graduated with that are passing from it," said Treantafelo.
In 2020, the Monroe County District Attorney's office reported 90 overdose deaths. To prevent future overdoses, the county launched the Overdose Fatality Review Program in 2022.
Several organizations came together to examine an overdose death to see where they might have fallen short in helping.
Since starting the review, the number of overdose deaths in the county in 2023 went down to 49.
"It's a way for all of our community partners to say, 'How could we have done better for this person? Where did the community let this person down and let this family down?' So we look back, and it's not finger-pointing. It's a team process where we say my organization could have done this differently. Or my organization could have done this differently. And that's something that we can look back and make change in the future, so that the next time that organization has contact with the person, they can maybe do something different," said Monroe County Detective Kim Lippincott.
The program has been so successful that the District Attorney's office is launching the Suicide Fatality Review program which will operate the same way.
According to the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Developmental Services, 26 people died by suicide in 2023.
While that number is low compared to the previous year, Dominique Leap, the program coordinator, says it's still too many.
"I'm hoping we get the same results that the OFR has gotten for the suicide review where we are seeing that the resources are growing. We are finding places where we lacked resources that we can put ourselves into," said Leap.
The first suicide fatality review for Monroe County is next Tuesday. Reviews for Carbon and Pike Counties are still being scheduled.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time of day or night or chat online.