NEEDLE CLEANUP 101

On Tuesday morning, Tasha Hamilton found a dirty needle in the driveway of
her apartment complex on Fortune Drive. Rather than ignore it and wait for
someone else to deal with it, she called several agencies in the community
asking for help: what should she do with it ... could someone come and get it?

After making several phone calls and getting little help, she contacted
Kamloops This Week.

"We called everyone who has a phone number. It's been in the middle of my
driveway since last night."

She was babysitting when she saw the needle and says she didn't feel
comfortable picking it up with an infant in her arms. "One lady I talked to
told me to go get a paper bag and pick it up with that."

Then what, she wondered, just throw the needle in the garbage and wait for
the trash collectors to find it?

That's exactly what not to do, says Barry James, native health centre HIV
liaison worker.

The rule, he adds, is to pick the needle up with tongs or, if you don't
have tongs, pliers or tweezers. Pointing the needle away from your body,
drop it into a pop bottle or other plastic disposable container and put a
lid on it.

When that's done, James says the container should be taken to the health
centre for disposal.

If you can't make it into the centre, or if there are too many needles on
the property, James, who organizes the needle exchange, doesn't have a
problem coming to you.

He gets a few calls each month from people who find needles, but he says,
the numbers have been going down over the years. "We've been educating
clients to bring (the needles) in here and they've been putting pressure on
their friends to do the same."

He still goes to various groups in the community, educating them on what to
do if they find needles. Next month, he'll visit the horticulture students
at the University College of the Cariboo.

"We find them everywhere," he says, but the most common areas are shrubs
and flower beds.