By Taylor MacPherson

City’s needle exchange rate improving

Aug 31, 2017 | 10:00 AM

New data suggests more needles are finding their way back to the health region through returns and exchange programs than previous years, and fewer used syringes are being discarded on Prince Albert streets.

According to numbers from the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region (PAPHR), the needle exchange rate for 2017-2018 currently sits at 96.4 per cent. That’s up from 92.9 per cent in 2016-2017 and just 90.3 per cent the year before. Health region spokesperson Doug Dahl said not only are more needles being returned in P.A., but it also appears that fewer needles are being thrown away as litter.

“In the 2015-2016 spring needle clean up, roughly 4,000 syringes were retrieved,” Dahl said in an email. “This year… there were only 700 syringes retrieved and we searched the same locations as years past.”

The health region has handed out more than 389,000 syringes so far this year, Dahl said, and has averaged 1.2 million annually since 2015.

Steven Mah, manager of PAPHR’s Access Place, told paNOW the health region has been actively searching the city for discarded needles since last fall, and focus their efforts on the areas where the most needles are reported.

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“Every two weeks I send two staff members out and they will then patrol that area as a proactive way to retrieve the syringes,” Mah said.

In addition to their proactive approach and assistance from community organizations, Mah said their clients are also growing more aware of the importance of returning their used needles. Access Place staff take extra time to monitor the exchange rates of their individual clients and discuss the benefits and importance of returning the syringes, he said, which has led to a significant increase in client-based exchanges.

“We’ll actually bring their exchange rate up and have discussions with them,” Mah said. “Some of them are actually extremely diligent and they have over 100 per cent [return rate].”

Access Place also organizes the city’s 14 needle-collection receptacles, and Mah said they have been working proactively to ensure they are used. In addition to the more permanent collection bins, Mah said they have six simple standalone collection containers which are regularly moved to the areas with the highest reported volumes of discarded syringes.

Although some residents may be frustrated when they find discarded needles lying around their neighbourhood, Mah said Access Place wants to hear any concerns so they know where to send their cleanup teams and place their collection bins.

“When it comes to needles in the community, we want to receive those phone calls and field those concerns so that we have an idea on where we can do some work,” he said

–With files from Dana Reynolds

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews