Blue Mountain Heart to Heart Health Equity

10/31/2024

Come see us today to pick up naloxone and battle the twin spectres of stigma and the overdose crisis. We're here to get you geared up and put a smile on your face this Halloween!

10/06/2024

Come visit us at the Festival de Cultura Viva today at the Gesa Power House Theatre til 4 pm! We have naloxone and crafts for the kiddos and would love to see you.

09/11/2024

Grateful to gather with other amazing organizations at the annual Su***de Prevention Walk in Walla Walla today. Thank you to everyone in our community who came and stopped by to pick up naloxone, we appreciate you helping to keep our community safer! ❤️

04/27/2024

Come visit us at the Bank of Idaho in Dayton for the Mental Health Resource Fair from 11am until 1pm today (Saturday 4/27).

We have naloxone (Narcan) the op**te reversal medication, Plan B and other sexual health supplies as well as harm reduction materials. You can also come for free rapid HIV and Hepatitis C testing to know your status. ❤️

01/18/2024

Sending a huge thank you to members of First Community Church of Milton Freewater who donated coats, hats, socks, hand warmers, hygiene supplies and handmade blankets for our participants!

01/02/2024

2023 Year in Review
Well, we had a very busy year! First, by the numbers:
933 overdose reversals with our naloxone program—there were 44 reversals in January 2023 and 110 in December 2023, as we saw a steady increase throughout the year. This is also 310 more than last year's number, which was itself double the year before (2021=301; 2022=632; 2023=933)

More than 320 clients served across all programs, including our HIV/AIDS case management service, diversion programs, low-barrier opioid treatment program, stimulant abstinence program, and care coordination program.

More than 330,000 syringes exchanged across our 3 syringe services program sites, and more than 11,000 safer smoking kits distributed. These are among our most controversial programs, however they continue to keep people engaged in care, providing access to basic wound care, entry into treatment and diversion, and lowering their chance of infection.

We tested more than 335 specimens in our drug checking program, finding xylazine, a non-opioid sedative, in our work more than a dozen times, more recently paired with fentanyl. This is of great concern to us, as xylazine is not reversible with naloxone. We also generally saw an increase in concentration of fentanyl when fentanyl was present, over the course of the year in our testing. Among our samples, which we do not know to be representative of what's available on the underground market, substances may be getting more potent.

We helped cure more than 5 people of chronic hepatitis C with our treatment program, and more than 115 people started opioid treatment with us this year.

Takeaways from the year:
Our clients have ongoing medical needs, and their status of living with HIV/AIDS or with substance use disorder is often getting in the way of their care. Due to stigma, some people are afraid of talking openly with their providers, and some providers are not willing or able to perform treatment. _Until buprenorphine and methadone are easier to obtain than fentanyl, we are going to continue to see great harm from this crisis._

Many people in our communities agree on what the problems are in our midst, but solutions are underfunded and this clouds the policy debate because it often isn't clear whether failures are due to ideas or the ex*****on of those ideas.

Housing, domestic violence, and mental health instability continue to come up as big barriers to care for many of our clients. These are all huge systems that themselves need reform. Champions for reform in those ares need to meet with each other and those of us working in behavioral and community health so we can align our strategies and make a bigger impact for the people we serve. This will require reaching across the political spectrum and trying new approaches.

We look forward to doing more good work in 2024! Thank you all for your tremendous support.

12/29/2023

Puddles is here to say there are only two days left in the year to contribute to Blue Mountain Heart to Heart! We are looking to meet our stretch goal of $15,000. If you are considering a donation, here's a handy link: https://www.valleygivingguide.org/organizations/blue-mountain-heart-to-heart

12/13/2023

Only a handful of tickets are left and may have YOUR name on them. Saturday night (the 16th) is the silent auction and fundraiser ! Join us for mocktails from Zero Proof Walla Walla and tasty pizza from . You do NOT want to miss this event!
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/blue-mountain-heart-to-heart-17362446278?fbclid=IwAR0ZL_oeNIFA8u6posEgCp8oWJI1znFajq4qVbvPRbw-2EUNey6MgDrGG74

Blue Mountain Heart to Heart

11/27/2023

World AIDS Day is this Friday, December 1. Our event in Walla Walla this year will start at 4:30PM at Land Title Plaza, with some words of inspiration, a brief vigil, and then we will walk to First Congregational Church, where we will host a moderated panel at 5:00PM. Our panelists are:
• Julie Zink, WA DOH Field Services Consultant
• Alison Millar, RN at New Hope Clinic/Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic
• Dr. Allison Bauer, Internal Medicine at Walla Walla Clinic
• Gilberto Zuniga, WA DOH Disease Intervention Specialist

We will have light refreshments available at the church. Please dress warmly for the walk. We look forward to seeing you!

11/27/2023

Blue Mountain Heart to Heart helps stigmatized patient populations in a 6,000-square mile area in Southeast Washington State. Our programs include case management for people living with HIV, HIV and STI prevention, hepatitis C prevention and treatment, diversion programs for people caught up in criminal justice systems, substance use treatment, harm reduction programs, mobile clinic services, and mental health support. Our strategy is to meet the changing needs present in our rural and exurban communities. We are grateful for and proud of our work, and hope you will consider us for a donation this year. Thank you.

I’m ready to support Blue Mountain Heart to Heart on November 28, 2023 during Valley Giving Guide. Learn more about Blue Mountain Heart to Heart and all the other organizations participating in Valley Giving Guide.

11/21/2023

11/02/2023

A really nice feature in Crosscut examines our harm reduction and low-barrier work.

The possession bill passed this year includes $63M for treatment centers. But it also gives local governments the power to regulate them.