Meet the Fellows Reimagining Reproductive Care Across the Country and Apply to Join Them

The Bridge Center and Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI) are proud to have been named recipients of the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) Outstanding Collaboration Award — a new 2026 honor recognizing groups of NNPHI members who have pooled resources and expertise to drive meaningful impact in community health. The award showcases the groundbreaking progress Bridge and OPHI have made in bringing buprenorphine (bup), a medication used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD), to people in the moments they need it most, before they even reach a hospital door.

Through CA Bridge, California has made tremendous progress in expanding access to medications for addiction treatment (MAT) in 280+ emergency departments (EDs) across the state and connecting patients with ongoing care. CA Bridge Connect extends support beyond the ED, serving as a central line helping people searching for support, their loved ones, and their health providers to navigate barriers to care.

When patients receive a positive test result for HIV, syphilis, or hepatitis C in the emergency department (ED), the next conversation they have can shape whether they understand their diagnosis, begin treatment, and stay connected to care. That conversation is often led by a Patient Navigator. A Patient Navigator provides outreach, patient education, coaching, linkage to care, documentation, data collection, and advocates for culture change in the hospital.

The Bridge Center and Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI) are proud to have been named recipients of the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) Outstanding Collaboration Award — a new 2026 honor recognizing groups of NNPHI members who have pooled resources and expertise to drive meaningful impact in community health. The award showcases the groundbreaking progress Bridge and OPHI have made in bringing buprenorphine (bup), a medication used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD), to people in the moments they need it most, before they even reach a hospital door.

Across 20 states and the District of Columbia, Bridge Starts has trained 228 provider champions in 35 EDs. Those champions brought low-barrier medication protocols into emergency medicine environments where 1,739 providers deliver more than 1.73 million emergency patient interactions every year. And the ripple effects don’t stop there.

Over six years, the Bridge Center has developed, tested, and refined a structured framework for healthcare change in response to a persistent problem in emergency medicine: despite strong evidence, it can take up to 17 years for new practices to become standard care.