Pubdate: Fri, 11 Nov 2005
Source: Penticton Herald (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.pentictonherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/664
Author: Laurena Weninger

NEEDLESS RISK

OLIVER -- Randy Asling knows it only takes a poke from one hypodermic 
needle to turn a life upside down

And though he's been trying for more than three years to convince 
local authorities to install disposal containers in public parks, 
they don't agree it is necessary

Asling was removing garbage from Lion's Park in October 1994 when he 
was stabbed by a dirty needle that he believes led to his contracting 
hepatitis C

"My job was to keep the parks clean, and that is what I was doing 
that morning," Asling said

He was about to change the garbage in the park's container, but 
several plastic grocery bags were blocking the lock and keeping the 
container closed

"I grabbed a handful, and that's when the needle went into my thumb," 
Asling said

He was wearing gloves, but they were not the ones currently 
recommended by Worker's Compensation -- and they offered no 
protection against the disease

"There was blood in the needle, and it went into my body," Asling said

It was the late '90s when Asling started to notice his health decline

"I started losing weight, and I started losing ambition. My whole 
body starting doing weird things." His doctors tested him for 
diabetes, and thought he was becoming depressed. But a liver stress 
test in 2001 showed him to have hepatitis C

Since then, Asling has started on a heavy treatment program, hoping 
it will extend his life by 10 years. It's a hard treatment that takes 
a year to complete and includes weekly injections and pills that 
attack his immune system

"I'm having a hell of a time with it," he said. "Imagine a three-or 
four-year-old." It's his concern for others that has led him to 
approach the town and the Interior Health Authority to install 
containers in the parks

Asling admits it isn't a perfect solution, but he thinks it might 
help. Sure, a drug user might not bother putting the needle away -- 
but he thinks others might

"What about a mother who comes into the park, sees (the needle) and 
puts it in the garbage?" he said

An unprotected needle in the garbage is dangerous. Asling also thinks 
the presence of the containers -- and the addition of signs at the 
park entrance -- might remind parents to have a quick look around 
before letting their kids run loose

Oliver Mayor Linda Larson said Interior Health did a study and 
determined there aren't enough needles to warrant the containers

"The only time they find them is in that brief summer window, and 
they never find any the rest of the year . . . the ones they find are 
less than half a dozen, so that's why it seemed a little bit 
excessive to be putting disposal boxes up everywhere," Larson said

"There doesn't seem to be (enough of a problem in Oliver) as far as 
needles go." Dr. Paul Hasselback, the senior medical health officer 
with Interior Health, agreed. "(The health nurse who studied the 
issue) actually spent a fair bit of time trying to get information 
from people . . . the parks people, emergency responders that 
actually interact with needs that have been identified and, despite 
an expression of significant concern, there's only been a handful of 
needles she had been able to identify being picked up over the years. 
So, clearly, there wasn't a big issue with relation to needles," he 
said. Larson said the small number of needles found in town is the 
reason there are no containers, but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem

"Drugs can be administered other ways than by needles . . . we 
acknowledge, as every community in the province does, that there are 
drug issues, but the needle one -- public health did a really 
comprehensive look into it," said Larson. "As far as we are 
concerned, with all of the issues there are today, it wasn't a 
newsworthy item." Asling doesn't understand the mayor's reaction. He 
said he is proof positive it doesn't take more than one needle -- 
never mind half a dozen -- to turn a life upside down

He insists it is certainly an issue. "Oh, it is," Asling said without 
missing a beat. "Wait until her granddaughter gets poked."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman