BALTIMORE — A young woman in a pink hoodie and a blond bun clutched a plastic bag filled with 20 fresh syringes and a box of naloxone, the antidote to opioid overdoses. Jason Bienert, a wound care nurse at a needle exchange program in Cecil County, noticed her bandaged hand and offered to take a look at it. She declined and exited swiftly to a waiting car.
“That was the first time I met her,” Bienert said. “I just gave her a little love and didn’t push it.” Bienert hoped over time the young woman would trust him and accept medical care.
He knows she’ll need it because, thanks to a new federally backed testing program, he already knows what’s causing her wounds.
