The Grey Bruce Public Health Unit. (Matt Hermiz/Bayshore Broadcasting)
The Grey Bruce Health Unit is reopening its GB Works Needle Syringe Program site at its Owen Sound headquarters next month.
The program will be operating out of the site located at 101 17th Street East starting March 14.
The site was run throughout much of the pandemic according to public health, but was forced to close in December as the region was experiencing a surge in Covid cases.
The program provides free and confidential services, based around the principle of harm reduction. Public health adds, a harm reduction approach helps to ensure that people who use substances are treated with respect and without stigma, and that substance-related problems and issues are addressed systemically.
The goals of the program seek to help reduce fatal overdoses in the community, encourage safe disposal of needles and other supplies, and reduce the spread of HIV, hepatitis C, hepatitis B and other pathogens among people who use drugs.
Program Manager overseeing the Grey Bruce Health Unit’s harm reduction programs Katie Cuillerier says, “the Grey Bruce Health Unit has been a well-utilized site for its needle syringe program, providing a safe, comfortable and accessible location for people to access this important harm reduction service.”
Cuillerier adds the services provided extend beyond needle syringe exchange, it is a place where people can check-in with qualified staff, who build relationships with clients and can connect them with other resources in the community.
The program has 16 locations across Grey-Bruce, and the 15 partner sites include three other locations in Owen Sound, Safe ‘n Sound, the Owen Sound IDA Pharmacy and the Addiction Treatment Centre at 1050 2nd Avenue East, which continued to operate throughout the pandemic.
Public health says the number of visits or interactions to the program sites climbed by 25 per cent from 2020 to 2021, with just over 3,900 interactions across all sites in 2020, and over 4,800 interactions in 2021.
The number of needles returned to all sites went up by nine per cent from over 49,000 in 2020, to over 53,400 in 2021.
Public health says in Grey Bruce, opioid-related harms and deaths are on the rise. Across the provide for more than a decade, according to Public Health Ontario data, 2,400 Ontarians died from opioid-related causes in 2020 alone.
The program provides sterile needles, alcohol swabs, filters, sterile water, tourniquets, and cookers, along with steroid injection and safer smoking equipment.
Programs sites also provide information on safer injections, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis education, as well as education on Naloxone and distribution.
As part of the local harm reduction program, bright-yellow outdoor sharps disposal kiosks have been installed at Carney’s Lane near city hall and outside the health unit building.
