Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2011
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 Coast Reporter
Contact:  http://www.coastreporter.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580
Author: Allie Nichol
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

LOCAL CO-ORDINATOR WORKS TO PROVIDE A SAFE COMMUNITY

In any community, big or small, addiction exists, but the issue of 
addiction is often swept under the rug. Or those who seek help are 
unable to receive it due to lack of resources.

Here on the Sunshine Coast, a program is in place to help those who 
suffer from addictions, and also to keep the community safe and its 
members educated.

The Sunshine Coast needle exchange program is a non-judgmental 
outreach service for intravenous drug users. Co-ordinated by Brent 
Fitzsimmons and facilitated by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), it 
operates on a one-to-one basis, where every clean needle given must 
have a used needle returned.

By providing the service for anyone wanting to dispose of used 
needles in a safe and legal way, the program works towards its goals 
of reducing the spread of Hepatitis C, HIV and other diseases. The 
service also reduces the number of discarded needles in public and 
the incidence of needle-stick injuries.

A Coast-wide initiative extending from Port Mellon to Egmont, the 
program runs five days a week, from noon to 7:30 p.m., and services 
its clients confidentially. It also works closely with the Powell 
River and Sea to Sky exchanges, with interaction from Vancouver exchanges.

Fitzsimmons said the exchange is 100 per cent client-based, and the 
Sunshine Coast program is unique in the fact that it's considered a 
mobile exchange.

He said when he gets a page, he meets people where they want to meet 
to provide them with safer injection or smoking equipment. As a 
result, he is often invited into people's homes, enabling him to make 
a personal connection.

"The power struggle doesn't exist because I'm on their turf. Often 
times people are a lot more willing to discuss what's going on in 
their life beyond just how much equipment they need," he said.

Fitzsimmons clarifies that while he is not a councillor, he is able 
to provide referrals to those who may want to seek treatment for 
their addiction or any other health concerns.

Community support, Fitzsimmons said, is pivotal to the exchange. 
There is an advisory committee that meets approximately three times a 
year and a cross section of people is invited to attend, ranging from 
members of the public to youth and mental health workers to RCMP officers.

"We try to pull in anybody that might have an interest in the 
program, and we really depend on that support for the community to 
keep the program going," Fitzsimmons said.

Although Fitzsimmons is the sole co-ordinator for the program, he 
receives support from the advisory committee, a pubic health nurse 
and a manager. His role entails a large responsibility, but 
Fitzsimmons said his clients are well informed about how the program 
works and active in returning needles.

"We have a really high return rate. Last quarter, from January to 
March, we had a 97 per cent return rate. For the whole of last year, 
we had an 84 per cent return rate," he said.

Sunshine Coast RCMP Const. Glen Martin represents policing interests 
at the advisory meetings. He said the high return rate is good to see.

"It's putting innocent people less at risk from a discarded needle," 
Martin said.

When asked if there is a drug user demographic on the Coast, 
Fitzsimmons said, "If I had to boil it down to a person, it would be 
a male, between the age of 40 and 50, who is a poly-drug user. People 
need to try to understand that no one wants to be a drug addict or 
alcoholic, no one chooses that. If a person's only coping mechanism 
is drugs and alcohol, before we can expect them to stop that 
behaviour, we need to provide them with other coping mechanisms."

Some may find the idea of needle exchange controversial and argue it 
may encourage drug use, similar to the controversy surrounding 
Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection site. Fitzsimmons dispels this notion.

"It is my belief, and the belief of VCH harm reduction programs, that 
providing clean equipment for people does not encourage drug use," he 
said. "By forcing people to use dirty equipment we are pretty much 
sentencing them to contacting HIV or Hepatitis C. These people using 
drugs, they're our family members, our friends, our workmates, and 
it's within all our interests to keep people healthy, both 
compassionately and financially."

Martin, however, said he feels there are challenges with harm reduction.

"It's difficult to encourage the harm reduction, I think, just 
because the drugs are so harmful themselves," Martin said. "No matter 
how safe you are about the method you're using, the harm of using 
drugs is so high."

For information on confidential service and equipment, call 604-740-9042.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom