LOCAL CO-ORDINATOR WORKS TO PROVIDE A SAFE COMMUNITY

In any community, big or small, addiction exists, but the issue of
addiction is often swept under the rug. Or those who seek help are
unable to receive it due to lack of resources.

Here on the Sunshine Coast, a program is in place to help those who
suffer from addictions, and also to keep the community safe and its
members educated.

The Sunshine Coast needle exchange program is a non-judgmental
outreach service for intravenous drug users. Co-ordinated by Brent
Fitzsimmons and facilitated by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), it
operates on a one-to-one basis, where every clean needle given must
have a used needle returned.

By providing the service for anyone wanting to dispose of used
needles in a safe and legal way, the program works towards its goals
of reducing the spread of Hepatitis C, HIV and other diseases. The
service also reduces the number of discarded needles in public and
the incidence of needle-stick injuries.

A Coast-wide initiative extending from Port Mellon to Egmont, the
program runs five days a week, from noon to 7:30 p.m., and services
its clients confidentially. It also works closely with the Powell
River and Sea to Sky exchanges, with interaction from Vancouver exchanges.

Fitzsimmons said the exchange is 100 per cent client-based, and the
Sunshine Coast program is unique in the fact that it's considered a
mobile exchange.

He said when he gets a page, he meets people where they want to meet
to provide them with safer injection or smoking equipment. As a
result, he is often invited into people's homes, enabling him to make
a personal connection.

"The power struggle doesn't exist because I'm on their turf. Often
times people are a lot more willing to discuss what's going on in
their life beyond just how much equipment they need," he said.

Fitzsimmons clarifies that while he is not a councillor, he is able
to provide referrals to those who may want to seek treatment for
their addiction or any other health concerns.

Community support, Fitzsimmons said, is pivotal to the exchange.
There is an advisory committee that meets approximately three times a
year and a cross section of people is invited to attend, ranging from
members of the public to youth and mental health workers to RCMP officers.

"We try to pull in anybody that might have an interest in the
program, and we really depend on that support for the community to
keep the program going," Fitzsimmons said.

Although Fitzsimmons is the sole co-ordinator for the program, he
receives support from the advisory committee, a pubic health nurse
and a manager. His role entails a large responsibility, but
Fitzsimmons said his clients are well informed about how the program
works and active in returning needles.

"We have a really high return rate. Last quarter, from January to
March, we had a 97 per cent return rate. For the whole of last year,
we had an 84 per cent return rate," he said.

Sunshine Coast RCMP Const. Glen Martin represents policing interests
at the advisory meetings. He said the high return rate is good to see.

"It's putting innocent people less at risk from a discarded needle,"
Martin said.

When asked if there is a drug user demographic on the Coast,
Fitzsimmons said, "If I had to boil it down to a person, it would be
a male, between the age of 40 and 50, who is a poly-drug user. People
need to try to understand that no one wants to be a drug addict or
alcoholic, no one chooses that. If a person's only coping mechanism
is drugs and alcohol, before we can expect them to stop that
behaviour, we need to provide them with other coping mechanisms."

Some may find the idea of needle exchange controversial and argue it
may encourage drug use, similar to the controversy surrounding
Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection site. Fitzsimmons dispels this notion.

"It is my belief, and the belief of VCH harm reduction programs, that
providing clean equipment for people does not encourage drug use," he
said. "By forcing people to use dirty equipment we are pretty much
sentencing them to contacting HIV or Hepatitis C. These people using
drugs, they're our family members, our friends, our workmates, and
it's within all our interests to keep people healthy, both
compassionately and financially."

Martin, however, said he feels there are challenges with harm reduction.

"It's difficult to encourage the harm reduction, I think, just
because the drugs are so harmful themselves," Martin said. "No matter
how safe you are about the method you're using, the harm of using
drugs is so high."

For information on confidential service and equipment, call 604-740-9042.