NEEDLE DISPOSAL SITE SET UP

Needle disposal boxes have been installed in the Regent Hotel on East
Hastings street for a one-month trial project to protect cleaning
employees from disease and injury.

The initiative, started by the Vancouver police department in
collaboration with the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society and
Vancouver Coastal Health, placed two needle disposal boxes on every
floor of the Regent hotel. The 14 boxes were installed last Thursday,
at no cost to the hotel.

"It is to facilitate the proper disposal of used syringes," said
Jennifer Weterings, DEYAS program director.

"At the moment they leave them in the rooms, but we are trying to get
people to dispose of them in sharps containers for everyone's safety."

Weterings said DEYAS will enter the Regent Hotel once a week to check
on the use of the containers and to educate staff on safe needle
disposal. Once the sharps containers are two-thirds full, DEYAS will
replace them.

Weterings hopes the initiative will reduce the number of improperly
disposed-of needles at the hotel.

"It's a trial," said Weterings. "We'll see how it goes."

Moe Kana, Regent hotel manager, said the needle disposal boxes were
much needed because staff often found used needles during their
monthly maintenance checks and cleanups.

"If you touch dirty needles, it is going to be a problem," Kana said,
warning of the dangers of contracting HIV from them.

Kana said hotel tenants often try to disguise the needles by covering
them with toilet paper or hiding them in the rooms or garbage bins.

"People put them in the toilet and . . . sometimes they put them in
the hallway," he said.

The Regent Hotel is currently home to 80 people, who pay $130 a week.
Many are temporary, but Kana said some have lived there for 15 years.

"It is only 14 or 15 tenants who are using," said Kana. "If we find
out they are using, we kick them out."

The project will be evaluated by the Downtown Eastside Youth
Activities Society to determine whether it should continue.