Mayor Cherelle Parker and the City Administration,

 Mayor Cherelle Parker and the City Administration,

As you are going about what you perceive to be the proper thing to do in "cleaning out Kensington" please remember to clean out any nursing or medical staff in local hospitals and other similar facilities who are not treating with dignity, honor, respect, and prompt professional care the patients in their care who you are trying to remove from the streets.

As one among many examples, I offer this blog to you...

Allison at Episcopal: "Get Out of My Emergency Room!" A Story of Medicaid Vs. Private Insurance

Any nurse who looks at a recently Narcaned patient who has arrived by ambulance to the emergency room in which they are employed and instructs that recently saved patient to

"Get out of my emergency room!"

is as much a part of the issue as is every other aspect more easily identified by you and your administration. Please look at how the medical community can do a better job at welcoming these patients with substance use disorder, a medical condition officially recognized in the DSM 5.

They are not criminals first. They are patients first. They are trying to deal with a god-awful situation in which they are not seen as patients first. In your role as mayor, you can make a tremendous difference for the good if you see these people as patients and not criminals.