Paulette Martin, the Regional HIV Coordinator for the Prince Albert area, is accompanied by two other SHA employees. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Public health

Operation needle pickup underway in Prince Albert

May 5, 2022 | 3:00 PM

Armed with buckets and pairs of tongs, a small team is fanning out across Prince Albert this week, seeking out used, discarded needles.

paNOW was invited on Thursday to join them as they made their way through the city’s downtown core, before moving on to the Riverbank, then heading west to the Diefenbaker Bridge.

As they explored alleyways, and small crawl spaces, there was a noticeable absence of needles. Paulette Martin, the regional HIV coordinator for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said that’s encouraging news.

“That tells me that people are collecting their needles, or people are making sure that they are using the needle drop off boxes, which we have in the community,” she said.

An SHA employee finds four needles discarded into a vent. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

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Funded through a grant by Health Canada, a special harm reduction after hours program has run for the past three years. The program was driven by individuals with lived experience and who knew where the hot spots were. Martin said as a result of the work they did, thousands of needles were picked up off the ground, and hundreds of thousands more given out to clients.

“We are educating clients and engaging clients, especially in the downtown core here in Prince Albert which are really people that are hard to reach that have for whatever reason didn’t access our needle exchange,” she said.

Paulette Martin inspects an area near one of the city’s drop boxes. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

The program ran for two hours on Mondays and Thursdays, and then increased up to four hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“The peers decided what the peak times were and it was very successful,” Martin said.

The grant ended March 31, and Martin indicated she’s currently exploring ideas that are peer driven.

“When you have peers involved in these types of programs, you actually have more success and financially they don’t waste our resources,” she said.

Reflecting back on the past couple years, and the impact from the pandemic, Martin said they were fortunate as the needle exchange program was able to continue, thereby preventing HIV and HEP-C, and possibly even saving lives.

Last Fall a meeting of business leaders in the downtown raised a number of concerns, one of which being the number of needles being found on their doorsteps. Martin encouraged all people in the community, who have concerns about picking up needles to contact Access Place.

“We will pick those needles up for you,” she said, adding it’s not uncommon for members of their team to go out five to six times a day.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell