Greener Pathways takes on critics

Controversy over the Greener Pathways’ mountaintop mobile clinic led the organization to ramp up its education efforts about the service. It should not have come to this.

Greener Pathways Assistant Program Director Carl Quinn wrote an open letter to Windham residents about the services the mobile clinic offers to communities after concern arose early in November that the clinic will actually increase, rather than decrease, the drug problems in the area. These concerns have no basis in fact for a number of reasons.

The mobile clinic serves people who lack the resources or means of transportation to get to a traditional medical setting. Meeting people where they live instead of forcing them to go somewhere else for services removes a barrier to people getting the help they need. Think of the clinic as a doctor on four wheels that makes house calls.

The clinic offers the anti-overdose drug Narcan only to adults who ask for it and who are willing to participate in the mandatory training period before they receive a kit. State Health Department guidelines do not allow the clinic to randomly hand out Narcan. Each kit is tracked and the recipient must provide contact information before entering the training procedure. Training and distribution is done inside the mobile clinic to protect the privacy of the individual.

The mobile clinic is not a safe injection facility. Most safe injection sites were outlawed by the federal government although some states have begun a process for approval. The bottom line here is this: the Greener Pathways mobile clinic is not a safe injection site.

Yes, the mobile clinic is about drugs and addiction, but that is not all it’s about. The clinic also offers free Hepatitis C, HIV and STI screenings; free condoms and Plan B; access to clean needles and harm reduction supplies; food and care bags, which include items such as water, granola bars, lip balm and a blanket; and assistance with obtaining health insurance.

Clinic services are not restricted to Windham and Greene County. It also serves Columbia County. It has visited Columbia-Greene Community College, fire departments and businesses.

One fact cannot be ignored. The weekend before the clinic traveled to Windham, Greene County had nine overdoses. The opioid crisis in this area creates emergency medical situations and has claimed several lives. Greene County has one of the highest drug-related death rates in the state and Columbia County is not immune by any stretch of the imagination. Greener Pathways officials are doing their part not only to fight the war against opioids but to deliver a limited yet important array of medical services. It’s a shame they have to defend their work amid a crisis with so many casualties.