NEEDLE-EXCHANGE VANS, YOUTH-OUTREACH AGENCY SHUT DOWN

Alternative Provider Sought, Says Coastal Health Spokeswoman

A Downtown Eastside youth-outreach agency plagued with leadership and
financial problems is being shut down by local health authorities.

Funding for the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society and its
mobile needle-exchange vans have been terminated by Vancouver Coastal
Health Agency.

Funding runs out Friday.

The sudden termination has left a crucial gap in health services in
the Downtown Eastside, said DEYAS workers.

"There is no transition in place," said acting chairwoman Bonnie
Fournier. "This is a vital service, not just for people who use
injection drugs, but for the community as well."

Frontline worker Robyn Beveland said the closure means no outreach
services will be offered to the neighbourhood's most vulnerable
people during the late-night hours.

The mobile vans, which patrol the streets for about 19 hours a day,
recover used syringes and provide drug addicts and prostitutes with
clean needles, condoms, counselling and other harm-reduction paraphernalia.

The organization, now bankrupt, has been embroiled in leadership
turmoil under a series of executive directors since founder and
activist John Turvey died in 2003.

The last director, Anna Jones, resigned at the end of May.

Anna Marie D'Angelo of Vancouver Coastal Health said the health
agency was advised by DEYAS leadership that it is no longer able to
provide the services required.

"They told us they can't service the contract we had with them," she
told The Province yesterday. "It's their decision. It's their leadership."

D'Angelo said other needle-exchange programs, including those
operated by PHS Community Services and Vancouver Area Network of Drug
Users, are already in place but said VCHA will continue to look for
an alternative service provider to fill DEYAS's shoes.

Last year, it provided $600,000 in funding to DEYAS, primarily for
the mobile needle-exchange program.