Caring for people with fentanyl addiction often means treating terrible wounds

A harm reduction van is parked in the Carrollton Ridge neighborhood of Baltimore. The van provides a place for people to exchange used needles for clean needles. (Keren Carrión/NPR)

In a van parked outside a church in Baltimore's Carrollton Ridge neighborhood, Gerald A. Hill Sr. is preparing wound care kits for people addicted to opioids.

Baltimore's harm reduction vans have long been a place for people to exchange used needles for clean needles. In recent months, more people have been coming to Baltimore's two mobile harm intervention vans in need of serious wound care due to a drug called xylazine. Among users, it is commonly referred to as Tranq.