LAKE COUNTY — Needle exchange volunteers have found some of their clients dead from overdoses but watched others recover, get married and have children.
Annina van Voorene founded Any Positive Change 15 years ago this month. Jeff Alexander joined her and they”ve been working together since to reduce disease transmission and problems from injection drug use. Injection drug users contact the program and can exchange needles free.
“We do think with help, we can take people to the gate of choices,” van Voorene said. “We can”t drag them through. If we intervened every day they would throw us out.”
The program offers counseling, assistance to resources, referrals for treatment and more to clients, van Voorene said.
Disease transmission is a serious issue in Lake County, van Voorene said. Lake County has one of the highest rates of HIV and AIDS infections compared with other rural counties. Between 2002 and 2009, 60 cases of HIV were reported in Lake County to Public Health. From 1998 to 2009, 62 cases of AIDS were reported. In that time frame, 65 cases of chronic hepatitis B and 1,611 chronic hepatitis C cases were reported in the county.
Because Any Positive Change operates by a home delivery system, van Voorene and Alexander can help solve problems they otherwise wouldn”t know about, they said.
“We know them. They open up to us,” van Voorene said. “We can see the flavor of their lives. It”s an incredible opportunity for education and counseling.”
“If only we had a penny for every person who said, ?You”re the only person who ever treated me with any respect,”” van Voorene said.
Alexander said they can troubleshoot problems such as clients who don”t have running water. They also teach people the safest and cleanest way to inject by making sure to wash their hands and clean the injection site in order to avoid infection. Alexander and van Voorene also provide their clients with resources such as food programs and other assistance to help improve their lives.
“We do everything we can for our folks,” van Voorene said.
Alexander said nine federal studies have found that needle exchange programs reduce disease transmission and don”t increase drug use.
“It does not attract new users,” Alexander said.
The program is funded through grants and does not cost anything to the county or state, van Voorene said. Sometimes the program has more money than other times, like now, and can provide sterile water that clients use to heat and inject the drugs,
“It doesn”t cost anything at all and science proves that it works,” Alexander said.
In 2008, the Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution authorizing a clean needle and syringe exchange program. A year later, the board approved an agreement with Any Positive Change recognizing it as a community-based organization interested in operating a syringe exchange program to include giving data to Lake County Health Services. Dr. Karen Tait, Public Health officer, gave a presentation to the board on the subject July 27.
Supervisor Denise Rushing supports the program.
“The bottom line is it works,” she said.
Rushing thinks if the program helps just one person, it”s worth it, she said.
Supervisor Rob Brown said he thinks it”s dangerous to give someone the “tools to their own destruction.”
“You”re giving a heroin addict a clean needle so he doesn”t get infected,” Brown said. “He”s shooting himself with heroin. It doesn”t make a difference.”
“I think the better thing is to get them off heroin than making it easier to use,” he said.
Chairman Anthony Farrington said he thinks the program has positive aspects, such as reducing the spread of disease. He thinks the program would benefit by having a fixed site linked with other services, including Alcohol and Other Drug Services.
“What you fight and grapple with in making public policy decisions is you don”t want to appear to be condoning drug use,” Farrington said.
“But evidence shows providing clean needles helps the community at large,” he said.
Because some injection drug users have spouses and children, they can spread disease they might get from using, which could spread to sexual partners.
“It”s going to affect all of us,” van Voorene said.
For every six months injection drug users share equipment, there”s an 80-percent chance they will be infected with a disease, Alexander said. Some diseases and conditions that affect injection drug users are HIV, hepatitis A, B and C, staph infections, skin infections and heart infections.
“In a perfect world, people would do one shot with one syringe,” van Voorene said. “I don”t think we”re there yet.”
Alexander responded, “I think you would be surprised how many people maintain one shot, one injection.”
People who want to exchange injection drug needles can call Public Health at 263-1090. Public Health will provide people with a phone number to call to exchange needles. Any Positive Change also has a Web site at anypositivechange.net where people can get information and an e-mail to receive services at anypositivechange_lakeco@hotmail.com.
van Voorene said someday she and Alexander hope to have a fixed site for exchanges, to do wound and abscess care, overdose prevention and counseling rather than doing it in the person”s living room.
Tait said Any Positive Change is geared toward injection drug users and that people who need to dispose of syringes for medical treatment can check with their pharmacist to see if they can discard sharps at the pharmacy. Lake County pharmacies also offer a $5 co-pay mail-in sharps disposal program for those needing needles for medical treatment.
Tuesday is International Overdose Awareness Day, which people will celebrate at City Hall in San Francisco to draw awareness to the issue of overdose deaths and provide information about the Drug Overdose Prevention Education Project, van Voorene said.
Alexander said many overdoses occur with people who were just released from jail, prison or a treatment center because their tolerance is down.
“Just because you”re not sharing needles doesn”t make it safe to reuse yours,” Alexander said.
Contact Katy Sweeny at kdsweeny@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
