The exchange has been called the country’s gold standard, and is credited with getting the outbreak under control.
(Mitch Legan, WTIU/WFIU News)
Scott County’s needle exchange is closing its doors. The county’s commissioners voted to end the program, despite it being credited with slowing the 2015 HIV outbreak.
But, a group of advocates is working to ensure the county isn’t without an exchange for long.
Six years ago, Scott County became the first place in the state to set up a needle exchange. At the time, drug users were sharing needles, and it led to the worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history.
The exchange has been called the country’s gold standard, and is credited with getting the outbreak under control.
But because of that, the county decided it had served its purpose.
“I think we have had an amazing program here and that it's worked,” Kelly Hans, the Founder of Holding Space Recovery Project said.
She knew there was always a chance the county commissioners could pull the plug. But it still stung when it actually happened.
“I've worked with my people here for the last almost five years. And to think that they just they won't have anywhere to go anywhere safe to go… was just really disheartening for me.”
So Hans quit her job at the health department, and started a nonprofit with hopes of running a similar program.
She started meeting with other advocates, who were concerned that without a needle exchange, the county might find itself back where it was in 2015.
William Cooke was the only doctor practicing in Austin at the time. His office off Main Street was flooded with new cases of HIV and hepatitis C.
“We went from nearly 200 new cases of HIV that that year in 2015, to only one last year. And a big reason for that is the syringe service program,” he said.
The program provides drug users with clean needles and a place to dispose of used ones. But the one in Austin quickly became more than that.
“I've been that person that's pick them up off the street, you know. Thank God, I didn't catch nothing bad, but with this place being open, man, you can come and get a clean needle. They feed you, they give you all types of resources, you know, and it's not just needles and stuff,” said Michael Combs. He’s used the Scott County Needle Exchange.
Staff there offered vaccines and testing and connected people with insurance or other healthcare services.
The exchange eventually became a cornerstone of southeast Indiana’s recovery community, connecting hundreds of people with addiction services.
Cooke said the exchange created relationships with a community of people who are often hard to connect with. Without an exchange, he was afraid that could be lost.
“It's hard for a physician like me, wanting to help people overcome their addiction, (to) even find people sometimes. But through a syringe service program, we have unprecedented access to people for the first time to offer them that hope, that opportunity,” Cooke said.
Cooke, Hans and other advocates didn’t want to see that progress go to waste.
“I hate to call it a loophole, because it's clearly states that in the law, but we felt like we found an alternate route,” Hans said.
The section of Indiana Code that covers needle exchanges allows “the executive body of the county or legislative body of a municipality” to approve one, as long as it operates within city limits.
In November, Hans and the advocates took their plan for an independent needle exchange to the Austin City Council. The council gave it the green light on a 3-2 vote.
“To potentially have the same issues resurface again, on top of dealing with a pandemic, as well. I just don't know if we could have handled that as a county, as a community, as a city,” Dylan Baker, Austin City Council Member, said.
Now, the real work starts. The city needs to find an organization to run the program and have the state approve it. And the new program would have to find funds, most likely through state and federal money.
Many in the community hope the city goes with Hans and her new nonprofit.
“I can remember coming into recovery. And, you know, they told me that I can do anything that I want to, you know, to put one foot in front of the other and I can keep doing it. And that's what I'm doing. That's what I'm doing. And that's what the rest of us are doing in the recovery community,” Hans said.
But heading into the new year, the future of the exchange is still uncertain. The city council needs to put out a request for proposals, but councilmembers say they don’t have a timeline yet for when that will happen.
In the meantime, Scott County will be without a needle exchange for the first time in six years.
