Pubdate: Wed, 27 Apr 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Page: 3
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: John Colebourn

LOCAL SCHOOL ON USED-NEEDLE ALERT

WEST END: Morning Cleanup A Necessity For Staff At Lord Roberts Annex
Elementary

Special needs teacher Mariya Astashenkava has a morning ritual when
she arrives at Lord Roberts Annex elementary school in Vancouver's
West End.

Before the kids can use the playground, Astashenkava and other staff
comb the area looking for items left behind by drug addicts who
frequent Nelson Park at night.

"Every morning we walk around looking for used needles," she said
Tuesday after the ongoing problem was made public by the school's
parent advisory committee. "We even find used condoms and lots of
cigarette butts."

Some of the discarded needles are being found in a community garden
adjacent to the school, which enrols students from kindergarten to
Grade 3.

On Sunday, one parent found seven used needles in the garden and
parents and staff think the problem is only going to get worse as the
warm weather sets in and people use the park as an overnight campground.

Mirian Grey, 32, and her young family enjoy using the dog park in
Nelson Park and she worries about someone stepping on the used
needles. "This is a really good fenced-in dog park," Grey said.

She too, feels the problem of used needles is complex. "I don't know
if you can just classify it as the homeless doing drugs down here,"
she said.

Andrea Abgrall, 23, has been living in Nelson Park for the last few
weeks after losing her apartment in Surrey. "I think it is
disgusting," she said of the discarded needles in the park. "There are
children around. We see a lot of drug use here in the park," she said.

According to Coco Culbertson, acting direct of programs for the PHS
Community Services Society, the problem is not confined to certain
parts of the Greater Vancouver area.

Vancouver Coastal Health and the Portland Hotel Society run a mobile
needle exchange and pickup program and have a van that goes around
collecting discarded needles when people contact them about the problem.

Anyone who finds a needle can call or text 604-657-6561 or email the
needle exchange at  .

Culbertson said when they have contact with drug users, they ask them
not to leave the dirty needles behind, but she noted some are in dire
straits, especially when they are homeless. "Why are they in the park
at night?" she asked. "It would indicate they probably don't have a
home."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D