Gene Troyan, director of operations of Butler Ambulance Service, said he could only speculate as to why the frequency of overdose calls has fallen from more than one a day last year to about one a week now.

Ambulance services don’t know why they are getting called out to fewer drug overdoses this year than they did last year, but they are glad to see the trend.

Opioid overdose deaths are significantly down this year with 15 confirmed and eight cases in which the cause of death hasn’t been confirmed.

“We’re down 39 percent or more over this time last year,” said Jeffrey Kelly, chief of Cranberry Township Emergency Medical Services.

Township paramedics used Narcan 12 times to revive 12 different overdose patients from Jan. 1 through May 31 last year, but only five times during the same time period this year, he said.

“I don’t really know what to attribute it to — education, more Narcan — but we’re happy to see that those numbers are dropping. We’ve tried to stay out in front of it with resources and providing options to show people there are better choices and that there’s another way,” Kelly said.

He said there is no pattern to the overdoses in the township.

“We don’t have a drug area or drug houses. All of the overdoses we see are transient folks,” Kelly said. “There’s no known address with multiple calls.”

The falling numbers haven’t impacted operations or procedures because ambulances, as well as township police officers, continue to carry and administer Narcan, he said.

“We’ll continue to give hope cards when Narcan is administered,” Kelly said.

A full story will be available in the Butler Eagle.