Pubdate: Fri, 7 Dec 2007
Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Victoria News
Contact:  http://www.vicnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267
Author: Rebecca Aldous
Cited: AIDS Vancouver Island http://www.avi.org
Cited: Vancouver Island Health Authority http://www.viha.ca
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

NEEDLE EXCHANGE FACES BIG CHALLENGE

Officials Hope Transition to New Home Will Be Smooth

Writing from the William Head Institution, Terry Doucette explains 
how Victoria's only fixed site needle exchange saved his life.

"Just before cleaning up I had caught Methicillin-resistant 
staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of blood poisoning, and didn't 
even realize it. I was literally days away from death," Doucette said.

Needle exchange staff drove him to hospital and made sure he received 
treatment.

Three years later, the 32 year old is pleading with the community to 
coexist with the needle exchange and help it find a new location.

"Please realize the exchange saves lives and recovery from addiction 
is a long process. Please don't be so quick to judge, instead let's 
figure out a solution," Doucette said.

Last week the centre received a lease termination notice for its 
facility on Cormorant Street, which is welcome news to nearby 
residents and business that sought a temporary injunction to close 
the operation because of loitering and drug use outside the facility.

Katrina Jensen, AIDS Vancouver Island executive director, who 
oversees the facility, has no idea where the exchange will end up, 
but she does know the transition must be seamless.

Serving some of the city's most vulnerable population, it is 
paramount the exchange finds a new home before it's forced out of its 
current location in six months.

Interruption to services are simply not acceptable, she said.

"Ideally (the new location) has to be close to downtown but not in a 
residential area," Jensen said.

A $125,000 funding increase, announced by the Vancouver Island Health 
Authority last week, will not assist in finding a new facility but 
rather addresses neighbourhood concerns.

The funding, the first increase since 1993, allows the exchange an 
additional staff member, bumping the roster up to three, to monitor 
activities in and around the centre.

"We want to try and improve the service in its current location, so 
that we are not just moving the problem to another neighbourhood," 
Jensen said. "That will put us in the best position to find a new location."

A report by VIHA also recommends the city implement alternative 
needle drop off and pickup sites to help disperse the concentration 
of people that use the Cormorant Street needle exchange.

Vancouver has many needle exchanges to deal with the 2.6 million 
needles distributed annually. The majority of the facilities are 
housed in public health centres, said Viviana Zanocco, a Vancouver 
Coastal Health spokeswoman.

"The bigger (needle exchanges) are in areas that are not residential 
and the smaller ones are in community health centres that are closer 
to residential areas. I am sure people don't even know that there are 
needle exchanges in them," said Zanocco.

Erin Gibson, a health promotion and harm reduction employee with the 
needle exchange, just wants the media whirlwind and stress of finding 
a new home to be resolved.

Gibson's focus, along with her colleagues, remains on the 60 regular 
clients she sees every day.

"Right now a lot of the people's needs circle around dry clothing," 
said Gibson.

The team's work consists of many small miracles, from connecting 
people to their families, to finding them medical help, which Gibson 
shrugs off as routine.

"The people that we work with are amazing," Gibson said. "A lot of 
the large majority of the community see only the bad and it is so 
easy to dehumanize people then."

Saving lives is the reason the exchange exists, she pointed out.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada statistics one in 10 
drug users is HIV-positive and seven in 10 have hepatitis C.

In 1996 the exchange handed out 128,000 needles. In 2006, that number 
rose to 740,000.

The relocation could be a blessing.

The Cormorant facility is too small, Gibson said. She would like 
space for washrooms, showers and laundry facilities.

In a report in February, AIDS Vancouver Island said it needed 
$585,000 -- more than double its current operating budget -- to run 
an ideal facility of 3,000 square feet.

VIHA's recent cheque helps, Gibson said.

VIHA will be working closely with AIDS Vancouver Island through its 
move, said Jocelyn Stanton, a VIHA spokeswoman.

"The needle exchange is part of harm reduction, it is not going to be 
phased out," Stanton said. "It is something that we will work on with 
the community."

AIDS Vancouver Island does not know if the organization's other 
departments -- volunteer services, the positive wellness program for 
people living with HIV and health promotion programing -- will be 
allowed to stay in the building on Cormorant Street. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake