Dr. Michael Nerenberg, MD

Near the end of my 24 years as an ER MD, I started noticing the first signs of the oncoming heroin epidemic. We started seeing overdoses. After retiring, and being appointed to the Board of Health, I first started hearing about the increase in newborns withdrawing from opiates. That second sign told me Pueblo for sure had a heroin problem, and something had to be done before it became even worse.  Research quickly lead me to Harm Reduction and Syringe Access as the most promising approaches to begin to positively affect the epidemic.  Time spent at the exchange is fun, and eye-opening.  Our volunteer staff are a fantastic group of people. It is clear we are having a positive impact on our participants.  My plan is to continue to learn how best to help; educate people about addicts and addiction; grow our center’s services, and continue to help our community deal with this human tragedy.