MEHARRY HARM REDUCTION CENTER
OUR PROJECTS & SERVICES
HOPE Syringe Service Program and Mobile Clinic
Addiction Clinic
The Rural Opioid and Alcohol Medication
Patient Navigation for Addiction Treatment and HIV/HCV Care
HOPE West
Prevention Outreach and HIV/HCV
SERVING TENNESSEE'S METROPOLITAN & RURAL AREAS
The Meharry Harm Reduction Center consists of several clinics designed to serve uninsured and unhoused people who use drugs. The Center is also home to several implementation science projects evaluating services to this population. Finally, the Center is home to several educational programs for medical students and residents as well as current practitioners. Below is a description of all our projects that serve Memphis, Nashville, and Rural Tennessee.
PROJECT DETAILS
The Meharry Addiction Clinic (MAC):
is the centerpiece to all our service projects. In the clinic we provide low-barrier medication for opioid use disorder. Low barrier services are rare in the Southern United States. This approach is heavily informed by harm reduction principles, key to this is continuing treatment with patients that may not be ready or able to pursue complete abstinence from drugs. Also key to this model is easing access to care by providing same day care and providing services to uninsured individuals. Appointments are flexible, and care is not limited to substance use treatment, but also includes other medical care for all patients in the clinic with a focus on conditions like viral hepatitis and HIV that are experienced at much higher rates among people who use drugs than the general population.
The HOPE (Helping Other People Effectively) Syringe Service Program and Mobile Clinic:
HOPE currently provides syringe service programming (SSP) at five locations in Nashville. In addition to providing harm reduction supplies the HOPE clinic provides wound care, HIV and HCV testing, as well as referral to the MAC for buprenorphine and other medical care. In 2025 the mobile clinic will add mobile buprenorphine, streamlined test and treat HCV care, and limited primary care services through the unit.
Patient Navigation for Addiction Treatment and HIV/HCV Care (PATH) :
People who use drugs, men that have sex with men, and transgender people are all at elevated risk for HIV and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Further, African American people are disproportionately affected by HIV. The PATH project was designed to identify people in the community that are at elevated risk for HIV/HCV due to drug use and/or sexual behavior. Provide risk reduction education and navigate patients to drug treatment, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV, HIV and HCV care and services to address social determinants of health like housing, insurance enrollment, and food assistance. Our outreach workers go to venues where these populations congregate and bring services to them.
The Rural Opioid and Alcohol Medication (ROAM):
program provides medication for opioid use disorder support for rural providers in Cheatham County, the county with the highest overdose rate in the state. As a part of this project we provide medical services with our partners at HUSTLE Recovery, an organization the provides respite and transitional housing for people who use drugs, and are building a jail based medication for opioid use disorder program in the County. We are also working with providers in the county to increase their capacity to provide care to people who use drugs through training and technical assistance.
HOPE West:
In partnership with Clinica Camellia/Medicos and A Betor Way, we will begin providing the full suite of services offered the HOPE project in Memphis. This effort will be led by John Rodney, MD, FAAFP, FASAM at the Medicos Clinic and A Betor Way SSP program will provide several outreach venues for this work. This project supports community delivered MOUD treatment, HIV and HCV testing, PrEP prescribing and HCV treatment, as well as harm reduction supplies distribution.
experienced at much higher rates among people who use drugs than the general population.
Prevention Outreach Substance Use and HIV/HCV (POSH) Project:
The POSH project is modeled after our PATH project in Nashville. The Partnership to End AIDS Status in Memphis leads this project in partnership with A Betor Way and the Tennessee Harm Reduction Coalition, focusing on recruitment of young Black men and transgender person that have sex with men, Black women and people who use drugs.
