The Behavioral Health Leadership Institute (BHLI), led by Dr. Lenny Feldman, chairman of the board and associate professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at JHH, will celebrate its 21st anniversary with the 2024 Fundraiser on May 5, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. BHLI has developed an innovative, systemic and comprehensive public health response for people who use drugs to provide easy access to treatment. Their work is growing, and they are expanding treatment services at the community-based sites both in-person and on Zoom and at the PCARE Van. PCARE is the low-threshold buprenorphine mobile treatment facility (van) parked outside the Baltimore City Detention Center. The van serves people recently released from the Baltimore City Booking and Intake Center (jail) and those living in the surrounding area, which includes a large homeless encampment site. They also have treatment sites at Amazing Grace Church on the East Side, Sharon Baptist Church on the West, Sex workers Promoting Action, Risk reduction and Community mobilization (SPARC), and a community-based home visit service. Finally, this past year, BHLI has developed a partnership with the Baltimore City Police Department to implement an innovative program through which officers can divert individuals that need treatment to PCARE in lieu of arrest.
The 2024 fundraiser is a celebration of their successes and an opportunity to raise funds to develop new program innovations and services not funded by traditional sources. The funds that they raise through this event are absolutely critical to continuing sustainability and the ability to provide the highest quality, most innovative and accessible treatment.
