AUDIO – NOT ALL BARS ARE BAD –
Jan. 16, 2026 – Spencer’s patient at the clinic that day in August was a woman who asked that NPR use only her first initial, H., because she criticized the Alaska Department of Corrections and she was afraid of retaliation from staff in jail. She said she was expecting to be incarcerated for about 6 months … At the Ninilchik Community Clinic on Alaska’s rural Kenai peninsula this summer, Dr. Sarah Spencer stood next to a patient lying on an exam table, and swiped her belly with alcohol. The patient was there for a monthly buprenorphine shot to treat her opioid use disorder – a shot she thought might be her last for a while since there was a warrant out for her arrest. The Alaska Department of Corrections does not provide comprehensive access to this life saving medication.
“I’m gonna give you a little pinch,” Spencer said, sliding the needle into a fold of skin on the patient’s belly for the subcutaneous injection.
