Overdose deaths in Jefferson County are on the rise this year. This past weekend, within 24 hours there were six overdoses, with one of them being fatal.

Now, health officials are on high alert.

"Our concern is the number of deaths that have been going up,” said Jefferson County Public Health Public Information Officer Stephen Jennings. “We have now 11 deaths pending since the beginning of October. And that's really high and a significant spike. And we're concerned about what may be out there.”

Officials suspect narcotics like fentanyl as a primary cause for the overdoses. They're using new real-time technology, called the ODMAP, to help track the drug overdose activity in the area.

"This is something that we get immediately,” said Jefferson County EMS Training Coordinator Christopher Singleton. “You know exactly where it happened. What's going on. Is there a trend? Is this something we need to be aware of? And we're also working on getting information out to those people that have overdosed so they can seek treatment."

There are a number of different treatment resources in Watertown for addiction, including Credo, Anchor Recovery, and Samaritan Medical Center, where they offer a nine-hour weekly intensive outpatient program.

"The stigma needs to be gone because they're everybody's brother, sister, mother father, aunt, uncle. I find it very hard to believe there are people out there who aren't affected by this disease. It's very important for that stigma to go away so they can get services," said Samaritan Addiction Services Program Coordinator Mary Hughes-Hoistion.

Officials hope the tech resources and community addiction services will get people the help they need before it's too late.