Black Excellence: Keli McLoyd
PHILADELPHIA — On a blustery winter morning, Keli McLoyd set off on foot across Kensington. This area of Philadelphia is one of the most drug-scarred neighborhoods in the U.S. In the first block, she knelt next to a man curled on the sidewalk in the throes of fentanyl, xylazine or some other powerful street drug.
“Sir, are you alright? You OK?” asked McLoyd, who leads Philadelphia’s city-run overdose response unit. The man stirredand took a breath.”OK, I can see he’s moving, he’s good.”
In Kensington, good means still alive. By the standards of the deadly U.S. fentanyl crisis, that’s a victory.