Tagged: Ohio Department of Health

The head of Ohio's addictions agency plans to talk about new data showing state residents still dying from drug overdoses at record rates.

Orman Hall is director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. He also will use a news conference Tuesday afternoon to push for addiction treatment and other health care services for all Ohioans.

Data released last week show the number of people who died of accidental overdoses jumped 14 percent in 2011 for a total of over 17 hundred overall deaths.

The Ohio Department of Health is reporting a spike in the number of people hospitalized with influenza this year compared to last year.

Department spokeswoman Shannon Libby says it's early to see this much flu activity, with cases typically going up in January or February.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday that 863 Ohioans have been hospitalized with influenza this season, compared with just 65 by this time last season.

The paper says totals from early October through Dec. 22 included 326 hospitalized across the state during the week of Dec. 16-22.