New syringe exchange program comes to Jeffco - #lakewoodnews

In response to increasing numbers of opioid use and overdose deaths among residents, Jefferson County Public Health has opened the state's eighth syringe exchange program, which provides participants with sterile needles and a place to safely dispose of used ones.

Called Points West, and housed in the Jefferson County Public Health building, the five-month-old program has 27 participants, a number expected to grow as word gets out and the health department begins to promote the program, said Nancy Braden, the health department's communications manager.

"We know there's a need, we know they're effective," Braden said of syringe exchange programs. But "it's not enough to have all of these studies showing they're effective. We actually need to start the programs."

To evaluate the need in Jefferson County, Jeffco health department representatives talked with community partners and other institutions that have contact with intravenous drug users, such as law enforcement, healthcare providers and other organizations that offer syringe exchange programs.

"We could see, from their participant data, that a lot of Jefferson County residents were going to Denver to get services," said Kelly Conroy, Jeffco health department's nurse manager of clinical services. "We established that yes, there is a need here."

Focus of syringe exchange programs

Syringe exchange programs are not new concepts, said public health nurse Erin Blau, also the HIV coordinator with the Jeffco health department.

Boulder was one of the first in the country to establish a syringe exchange in the late 1980s, Blau said. The other registered programs in Colorado are in Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Georgetown, Grand Junction and Denver, which has two.

When asked about the cost of the program, Braden said Points West utilizes existing staff to operate the program, and the state health department helped offset costs of supplies.

Overall, there are 228 syringe service programs in 35 U.S. states, the District of Colombia, Puerto Rico and the Indian Nations, according to the North American Syringe Exchange Network.

Studies have shown syringe exchange programs effectively save lives, Braden said. A federal government statement in 1998, she noted, stated the programs do so without losing ground in the battle against illegal drugs.

In general, the program focuses on what is called harm reduction, Blau said. In other words, increasing access to clean and sterile injection supplies reduces the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C --; bloodborne pathogens --; and overdose risk among people who inject drugs.

People who use the program also have access to education materials and resources to other vital healthcare services, Blau said.

Program administrators are aware that syringe exchange programs may lower the perception of the risks involved with injection drug use, said Catherine Hoich, manager of adult outpatient/co-occurring services at the Jefferson Center for Mental Health. However, often the programs offer referrals for mental health care and/or substance use treatment.

Keeping used syringes off the streets

A key benefit to the Points West program, and others like it, is that it provides a safe disposal place for used needles, Conroy said.

Steve Davis, public information officer for the Lakewood Police Department, agreed.

Finding discarded needles in public places and officers being exposed to potential needle stick injuries if a person is subjected to a pat down are nothing new to law enforcement agencies, he said.

Other agencies, locally and across the country, Davis said, have provided the department with data proving that programs such as Points West are successful.

"There's no reason to think it wouldn't benefit our area also," Davis said.

The alternative, he added, is to have discarded needles on the streets. A drug user might put his or her health at higher risk from finding and using a contaminated needle. Non-users and children risk injury and infection from contaminated needles.

A successful syringe exchange program will help keep discarded needles off the streets, he said.

Davis hopes Points West will incentivize people to turn in all used syringes to a central location.

"If they're that much of a health risk," he said, law enforcement wants "to do what we can to get them centrally disposed of."

Getting the word out

Connecting the program to those who need it is a key concern for organizers.

"Our hope is to continue to serve (all) people who inject drugs in the county," Braden said.

In general, hours of operation or difficulty finding transportation to a syringe exchange location, can be a problem for participants of such a program, Conroy said.

And, Blau added, awareness that such the programs exist, "is a really big barrier as well."

The health department is still in the beginning stages of promoting the Points West program, so its success rate is hard to define at this point, Blau said. She noted the number of people using the program does not accurately reflect all the people it could benefit.

But new clients come in every month, she said. And "we have gotten a lot of feedback that it is really helpful."

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/New-syringe-exchange-program-comes-to-Jeffco,231972