You Have to Have a Heart

Before Delaware’s first needle exchange program ever started, it received much attention in the local media. We’ve heard from those who support it and those who are against it. So when it came time to cover it for the BCI newsletter, it was a challenge for me to give our readers something they hadn’t read before.

It was while listening to the outreach staff do a presentation about the program that I knew the story I wanted to write. We hadn’t heard from the people who are out on the streets doing the work. So I let Rochelle, the Program Coordinator, do the talking.

In this excerpt, I asked her what makes someone a good outreach worker:

“You have to love dealing with people, and you have to have a heart. You have to be able to read a person, know when a person wants to be bothered and when they don’t. Also you have to learn how to set boundaries so that you can’t take your work home.”

You can read the full article, “Taking It To The Streets,” here. It’s my pleasure to work with these dedicated people and to bring their story to you.