WESTSIDE WOMAN WORRIED AFTER NEEDLE PRICKS DAUGHTER

A Westside woman says more should be done to teach children what to do when
they encounter modern hazards after her daughter was stuck by a used
hypodermic needle on a private beach this week.

Lorri Johnson said her 10-year-old daughter knows not to touch discarded
needles but she wasn't aware that the object she picked up was a hypodermic
needle (it was just the needle, not a syringe) until she stuck herself with
it by accident. Johnson said her daughter thought it was a pen.

"My stomach is just sick and I am crying because somebody left that thing
out there and that could end up taking my daughters life away," she said.

When Johnson came home, her daughter was putting pressure on it and had her
finger on a bottle of peroxide.

"She knew how serious this was, she didn't want the blood to travel through
her body," she said.

"My daughter isn't stupid or naive. She knows about drugs and about needles
and she shouldn't pick them up but she just wasn't able to recognize it. It
was re-capped and it looks like a cylinder."

Her daughter was tested immediately, but won't find out for three months if
she has HIV, which causes AIDS, or more likely hepatitis B.

Bev Grunert, a public health nurse, said Johnson may have a point, adding
discussing what to do with found needles can be important education.

"It is an important topic to bring up with kids as a general safety
message," Grunert said.

She said kids are exposed to needles when they get innoculations in
kindergarten and Grade 6 but added that many of them, if they are wise,
don't look at the needles. She said parents can tell their kids not to
touch anything that even looks like a needle.

The greatest concern to Johnson's daughter is contracting hepatitis B,
which affects the liver.

The virus that causes AIDS most likely won't doesn't last more than half an
hour on surfaces but hepatitis B is much stronger and can survive seven days.

Children are currently immunized for hepatitis B in Grade 1-too late for
the Johnsons. Immunizations are going to be done on infants.

Grunert said it is important that people go directly to the emergency room
if they are poked by a needle so necessary treatments can begin immediately.

If anyone finds a needle, authorities recommend that you don't touch it.

Stand by if possible and phone police at 762-3300.

If found in the downtown, area, the new Downtown Patrol is also trained to
dispose of needles.

Phone 470-9058 between noon and midnight Tuesday to Saturday.