Pubdate: Fri, 01 Feb 2013
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Mike Howell

NEEDLE EXCHANGE OPENED IN KERRISDALE 10 YEARS AGO

Since he can remember, Geoff has made a conscious decision to search
out clean needles as he continues to fight his heroin addiction.

Now that the 39-year-old homeless man with Hepatitis C uses a one-stop
service where he can exchange his used needles for new ones, his
health concerns are lessened.

Geoff, who didn't want his surname published to protect his privacy,
found a needle exchange in the neighbourhood in which he panhandles
and sleeps on the streets. "I was one of the original people to start
using it," he said by telephone Tuesday as he walked down a noisy alley.

Drug addicts using needle exchanges in Vancouver is not a new
phenomenon. Officially, the service has been around since the late
1980s and programs are available at all eight of Vancouver Coastal
Health's community health centres.

But when Geoff discovered the needle exchange in his neighbourhood,
his first impression was that it was "kind of funny."

Why? "Because it's Kerrisdale," he said of the quiet, wealthy West
Side enclave.

This year, the Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre at West 43rd
Avenue and West Boulevard marks the 10th anniversary of its needle
exchange. It's located in a small room on the third floor of the
centre, where staff meet one-on-one with clients. They're offered
clean needles and other injection tools including clean water, swabs
and surgical bands. Condoms and crack cocaine smoking kits are also
available.

In 2012, the health centre recorded 90 visits by a core of about 10
people. More than 1,100 used needles were returned and 2,207 provided.
The previous year, 56 visits translated to 2,063 needles returned and
1,552 provided. The centre's highest number of needles handed out
occurred in 2010, when staff issued 2,353 needles.

Mark Haden, the addiction clinical supervisor of the centre, said the
majority of clients are homeless. Occasionally, people he described as
middle class use the service.

But, as Haden pointed out, the needle exchange is one service of many
the centre provides for people fighting an addiction.

The exchange, he said, is really a point of contact to get clients
into counselling, treatment, set up in housing, or all three,
depending on the client. Haden tells a story of a former client who
used to panhandle outside the nearby London Drugs. Recently, the man
stopped by the centre to thank the staff. "He had transformed
himself," Haden said from his office. "He was a street entrenched
individual and he said he was housed, employed and that he'd gone back
to school. I'd like to think we played a part in that."

Though some people may think otherwise, the centre has not recorded a
single complaint about the needle exchange since it began operating in
2003. "We've had no community complaints, we've had no business
complaints, we've had no disturbance problems - we've had zero
issues," Haden said. "To some extent, I think it's a reflection of the
discussion in Vancouver. We've been through so many discussions around
Insite [supervised injection site on East Hastings] and everything
else, that I think the folks in Vancouver are pretty accepting of it."

Geoff, meanwhile, said he is on a methadone program and the centre is
working on finding him housing. For now, the Toronto-born man will
continue sleeping on the streets of Kerrisdale and Oakridge.

Why Kerrisdale?

"When I started to actually have to panhandle for my money around
Granville Street, I asked someone: 'Where's a richer neighbourhood?'
Someone told me Kerrisdale. So I went there." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D