News

As the US harm reduction community grapples with the legal, cultural and political challenges to implementing the nation’s first legal safe consumption space, some innovative designers are playing their part to help mitigate historic overdose levels right now. They are bringing safety interventions to the public restrooms where injection drug use is already occurring.

A contractor in Boston recently incorporated what he believes is the first company dedicated to create overdose-proof bathrooms—or as close as he can get to that—by installing motion detectors.

Every national movement starts locally. In this case, the movement to spread the message of and encourage acts of kindness started at the dining room table of Burlington resident Joyce Deliyiannis in 2009, who is the founder of Massachusetts-based nonprofit HELPIS.

HELPIS has grown into a network of a few hundred individual volunteer donors who step in and step up to fulfill requests from numerous organizations across eastern Massachusetts. Civic organizations, including the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, hold annual fundraisers to support HELPIS’ mission.

5 for Good features the HER Saturday weekly women's health clinic, which offers women experiencing homelessness a safe space. Free services include primary care, haircuts, manicures, and breakfast at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

The Basics team is honored to interview Dr. Aura Obando, the Family Team Medical Director at the Boston Health Care For The Homeless Program. According to the Annual Homeless Census, Boston has been making great strides towards addressing family homelessness. Dr. Obando leads the team that provides high quality care to 1,600 families with children during their most vulnerable time. The mother of three small children, Dr. Obando graciously talked to us about how she uses the Basic practice Maximize Love, Manage Stress for the families she serves, as well as to address the secondary trauma that she experiences herself from hearing their stories.