Pubdate: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 Source: Sun-Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2001 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd Contact: http://www.sunherald.com.au/ Author: Adrian Scardilli Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms) WANTED: STAFF FOR INJECTING ROOMS A shortage of applicants has forced organisers of Australia's first legal heroin injecting rooms to recruit nurses from overseas. The Uniting Church, which was awarded the licence to run the injecting room last October, plans to place newspaper ads in the UK as well as Australia-wide in a bid to fill the positions. The move follows a slow response to last year's NSW advertising campaign to recruit temporary part-time registered nurses, health educational officers and drug and alcohol workers. Uniting Church medical director Ingrid van Beek said recruiting nurses had to be more widespread. "The United Kingdom would be a good place to start searching for nurses overseas," Dr van Beek said. "They have excellent drug and alcohol training. The injecting rooms, at 66 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross - a former pinball parlour - are almost complete. The Uniting Church has appointed the rooms' nurses unit manager and is close to signing three registered nurses since starting the recruiting campaign in November. Dr van Beek said: "We need at least 10 nurses and will be looking for a casual pool of nurses in case someone is sick and we have to call someone in. "I guess there is also a bit of perceived uncertainty around this project. "On the one hand people are attracted to it because of the idea of doing something challenging and pioneering and being part of the first legal injecting room. "But because we haven't actually run something like this in Australia, there's nobody out there really who has the full set of skills needed. "I suppose we are asking nurses to go out on a limb." The Uniting Church is developing a comprehensive two-week training program for injecting room nurses and counsellors, covering a range of important issues including overdose and aggression management. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake