Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Webpage: Copyright: 2008 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: Pamela Cowan DISCARDED NEEDLES A GROWING PROBLEM To address sharp criticism of the province's needle exchange programs, Health Minister Don McMorris has launched an independent review of the programs. The Ministry of Health received complaints from organizations such as the Saskatoon Police Service about finding needles during the spring thaw, said Rick Trimp, the executive director of Population Health with Saskatchewan Health. "Due to a number of concerns that have been raised, the minister decided to launch a review of the needle exchange program to determine whether we are using the best practices for needle exchange in our cities," Trimp said. Laurence Thompson Strategic Consulting will review the needle exchange programs in seven health regions, with the largest operations in Regina Qu'Appelle, Saskatoon and Prince Albert Parkland. The review will be finalized by December. Thompson has a background in health services research. His previous positions include interim CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council and CEO of the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission. Although the province's needle exchange programs are annually reviewed, this one will be broader in scope and focus on the current patterns of needle exchange and historical trends, the best practices for needle exchange programs and interviews with program administrators, clients and community-based organizations such as police, firefighters and schools. During the 2007 spring cleanup, 645 loose needles were collected in Regina, primarily in the city's North Central, Core and Transition areas. In Saskatoon, 372 needles were picked up after the snow melted. In the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region in 2006-07, 1.9 million needles were handed out and 1.861 million were returned. "We've been pretty consistent in our return rates. If you look at that number for Regina, that's a 98-per-cent return rate, which is actually very good when compared to others across the country," Trimp said. "The numbers have increased a bit because the program is becoming more integrated in the community. There's the mobile vans that are set up in some of these areas where there's known intravenous drug users. Now there's a comfort level with those intravenous drug users coming to the van and it's not only a needle exchange. There's also other public health programs that are delivered through these vans such as counselling and different prevention type activities -- handing out of information or even counselling some of the people who are intravenous drug users on public safety and their safety." In Saskatoon in 2006-07, about one million needles were issued and 873,000 were returned. Trimp didn't have statistics on the number of needles collected from playgrounds or back alleys for Prince Albert, but said 468,115 needles were issued in that city and 424,052 were returned. He said it's important to put the numbers in context. "Not everybody disposes of their needles back to the needle exchange van," he said. "You'll see people putting them into the sharps containers in public washrooms or into the other sharps containers that are distributed around the community." Needle exchange programs are geared to reduce the sharing of unclean needles among injection drug users and prevent the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne pathogens. Sask Health recommends that if people find loose needles they should contact local public health offices or police. Trimp said that since the needle exchange program was implemented in 1999 no Saskatchewan residents have contracted HIV or hepatitis from a needle stick. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart