{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T05:48:22Z","timestamp":1791265702563,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,18]],"date-time":"2024-06-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1718668800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Opioid overdose deaths continue to increase in the US. Recent data show disproportionately high and increasing overdose death rates among Black, Latine, and Indigenous individuals, and people experiencing homelessness. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) can be lifesaving; however, only a fraction of eligible individuals receive them. Our goal was to describe our experience promoting equitable MOUD access using a mobile delivery model. We implemented a mobile MOUD unit aiming to improve equitable access in Brockton, a racially diverse, medium-sized city in Massachusetts. Brockton has a relatively high opioid overdose death rate with increasingly disproportionate death rates among Black residents. Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC), a community health center, provides brick-and-mortar MOUD access. Through the <jats:italic>Communities That<\/jats:italic> HEAL intervention as part of the <jats:italic>HEALing Communities Study<\/jats:italic> (HCS), Brockton convened a community coalition with the aim of selecting evidence-based practices to decrease overdose deaths. BNHC leadership and coalition members recognized that traditional brick-and-mortar treatment locations were inaccessible to marginalized populations, and that a mobile program could increase MOUD access. In September 2021, with support from the HCS coalition, BNHC launched its mobile initiative \u2013 Community Care-in-Reach\u00ae \u2013 to bring low-threshold buprenorphine, harm reduction, and preventive care to high-risk populations. During implementation, the team encountered several challenges including: securing local buy-in; navigating a complex licensure process; maintaining operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic; and finally, planning for sustainability. In two years of operation, the mobile team cared for 297 unique patients during 1,286 total visits. More than one-third (36%) of patients received buprenorphine prescriptions. In contrast to BNHC\u2019s brick-and-mortar clinics, patients with OUD seen on the mobile unit were more representative of historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups, and people experiencing homelessness, evidencing improved, equitable addiction care access for these historically disadvantaged populations. Offering varied services on the mobile unit, such as wound care, syringe and safer smoking supplies, naloxone, and other basic medical care, was a key engagement strategy. This on-demand mobile model helped redress systemic disadvantages in access to addiction treatment and harm reduction services, reaching diverse individuals to offer lifesaving MOUD at a time of inequitable increases in overdose deaths.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1407522","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,18]],"date-time":"2024-06-18T05:36:08Z","timestamp":1718688968000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Mobile addiction treatment and harm reduction services as tools to address health inequities: a community case study of the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center mobile unit"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Allyson","family":"Pinkhover","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kelly","family":"Celata","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Trevor","family":"Baker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Avik","family":"Chatterjee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karsten","family":"Lunze","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2232314","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2022.32314","article-title":"Racial and ethnic disparities in drug overdose deaths in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"5","author":"Han","year":"2022","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"},{"key":"ref2","article-title":"Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths, All Intents, MA Residents \u2013 Demographic Data Highlights","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"621","DOI":"10.55752\/amwa.2023.195","article-title":"Updated guidance on the reporting of race and ethnicity in medical and science journals","volume":"38","author":"Frey","year":"2023","journal-title":"AMWA J"},{"key":"ref4","first-page":"1","article-title":"General Comment No 14: the right to the highest attainable standard of health (art. 12 of the covenant)","volume":"2000","year":"2000","journal-title":"UN Comm Econ Soc Cult Rights"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1186\/s12939-022-01742-0","article-title":"How should implementation of the human right to health be assessed? 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