I used to be a person that just thought clean needle programs were a bad idea because it would allow people to use even more. With more education and a deeper understanding of public health and harm reduction, within the last couple years and especially after our discussion this past week, I am someone who is in favor of Needle Exchange Programs for the benefits of public health disease prevention. During the in class discussion with regards to needle exchanging, we also spoke to the process of administering naloxone. A misconception some of my peers had going into this in conversation is that if you administer narcan to someone who doesn’t need it they can have adverse reactions. This is in fact not the case. It is harmless. It was absolutely beneficial to learn this piece of information because it takes away the unsuraness of administering or not administering trying to weigh out if you’ll provide more damage. 

With regards to strategies for resolving health and healthcare disparities and improving the health of those affected from this population, I feel like for harm reduction, communities that are at greater risk should have pop up clinics or tabling where people can get narcan, no questions asked without having to go buy it at the pharmacy. I intend to apply my new acquired knowledge in the scope of understanding that you cannot always force people to change their adverse health behaviors from occurring however, you can prevent them from having further problems and that is what health care is all about. At the end of the day, if you have a solution to someone obtaining a blood borne pathogen then thats what counts. Additionally, I think what i pulled away from class today to particularly relates to treating others with the understanding that everyone is doing their best.