Ben From Iowa City: His Story

Ben is a 26 year old from Iowa City who has been using heroin for several years. In the fall of 2017, he met the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition (IHRC) while they were conducting community outreach. He received a naloxone kit and was grateful for the assistance, but was disappointed not to be able to receive syringes – he worried about contracting HIV or hepatitis from the friends he regularly used with. After meeting IHRC, he returned often to receive naloxone and spend time with some of the outreach workers he had formed friendships with. Several months later, Ben returned to IHRC to tell the outreach workers that he was quitting – he was sick of using and wanted to enroll in a suboxone program. But he was having difficulty finding a provider or a clinic – the wait time for one clinic was nine weeks; another required that he find a ride to Cedar Rapids each day for methadone; another required he pay out of pocket; some required he have a valid government ID. When he told IHRC’s outreach workers about the difficulty he was experiencing, they were able to offer him assistance. But it wasn’t easy – it took hours spent on the phone, looking for treatment providers who had space available to take on a new patient. Finally, through a physician that the IHRC outreach workers had an existing relationship with, IHRC was able to find a place in a suboxone treatment program that worked for Ben’s needs. Across the country, harm reduction programs offer a point of connection to people who use drugs, and create supportive relationships like these. These programs do much more than just offer a piece of paper as a referral.