WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18

11:00am – 6:00pm: INSTITUTES
1:00 – 5:00pm: HIV PNC INSTITUTE
3:00 – 5:00pm: HIV PCP INSTITUTE
4:00 – 5:30pm: TRACK SESSIONS

THURSDAY, MARCH 19

9:00 – 10:30am: PLENARY SESSION
10:30am – 12:15pm: TRACK SESSIONS
12:30 – 2:00pm: LUNCH PLENARY
2:15 – 3:45pm: TRACK SESSIONS
4:00 – 5:30pm: TRACK SESSIONS

FRIDAY, MARCH 20

9:00 – 10:30am: PLENARY SESSION
10:45am – 12:15pm: TRACK SESSIONS
12:30 – 2:00pm: LUNCH PLENARY

This schedule is preliminary and subject to change.

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Cool Kids Carry Narcan: A Rural Community Model for Equitable Naloxone Access and Overdose Prevention

Thursday, March 19 @ 4:00 pm5:30 pm
Forward in SYNChronicity for Drug User Health

Cool Kids Carry Narcan is a rural overdose prevention initiative led by Berkshire Harm Reduction, a program of Berkshire Health Systems in western Massachusetts. Designed to address geographic and racial inequities in naloxone access, the project currently installs and maintains 124 public NaloxBoxes while pairing distribution with community training and stigma-reduction campaigns.

Through partnerships with law enforcement, housing authorities, libraries, and local residents, naloxone has become both accessible and visible—reshaping perceptions around harm reduction in a county with the state’s highest overdose fatality rate.

Preliminary data show a 13% reduction in overall overdose deaths and an 83% decline in BIPOC fatalities, marking measurable progress toward equity. By combining healthcare infrastructure with grassroots collaboration, Cool Kids Carry Narcan demonstrates how rural communities can turn harm reduction into a visible, shared practice of care.

Schedule

  • Date: Thursday, March 19
  • Time:
    4:00 pm–5:30 pm

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    Accreditation, Credit, and Support

    Information on credits offered to SYNC participants for attending institutes, sessions, and plenaries — live or in-person — is available here.

    Commercial Support Acknowledgement

    This conference is supported, in part, by independent educational grants from ineligible companies. A full list of supporters is available here. All accredited content has been developed and delivered in accordance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence and the criteria of Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™, and is free of commercial bias.