The Indiana needle change that helped contain the historic HIV outbreak may end: Shot

Kelly Hans has a box of Narkan nasal sprays at a county one-stop shop in Austin.

Mitch Legan / WTIU / WFIU News

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Kelly Hans has a box of Narkan nasal sprays at a county one-stop shop in Austin.

Mitch Legan / WTIU / WFIU News

In 2015, rural Scott County, Indiana received national attention when intravenous drug use and needle sharing led to the development of HIV.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, then Governor of Indiana, approved the state’s first syringe replacement program in a small manufacturing community 30 minutes north of Louisville as part of an emergency response.

“I tell you that I don’t support needle exchange as a drug opposition policy,” he said during his 2015 visit to the county. “But this is a public health emergency.”

235 people in total Infected During the course of the outbreak, they became infected with HIV, most of which occurred within the first year. All last year, there was one new case. Health officials allow needle replacement due to a dramatic reduction in cases.

However, because the number of cases is the lowest in a few years, the Scott County Commissioner is considering shutting down the program. Two of the three commissioners said they would vote to end the program during the June 2 meeting, claiming that it would enable substance use. (Neither allows NPR to interview.)

Needle change provides intravenous drug users with a place to dispose of clean syringes and used syringes. the study They help reduce the spread of infections like HIV and help overcome substance abuse by acting as an access point to medical services for people who are unlikely to find them. Shows that you can.

Michelle Matane, health caretaker in Scott County, doesn’t want to see the syringe program end.

“I think a lot of people forgot what it was like in 2015 and what we experienced as a community,” says Matern.

Hans examines the contents of one of the kits that the exchange provides to intravenous drug users.

Mitch Legan / WTIU / WFIU News

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Hans examines the contents of one of the kits that the exchange provides to intravenous drug users.

Mitch Legan / WTIU / WFIU News

Residents testified to the effectiveness of the exchange at a recent meeting. Former US surgeon Dr. Jerome Adams attended the committee in early May and praised Scott County’s exchange as a gold standard.

“I’ve seen syringe service programs across the country. I went to Canada and saw how they do it,” Adams said. “And the way you do it here is the way it’s supposed to be done.”

The county’s one-stop shop in Austin, Indiana tests for HIV, hepatitis C, or sexually transmitted diseases. People who have food and work there can connect users to health insurance, housing and recovery opportunities. We serve about 170 people a month.

“We no longer call it needle change,” says Matern. “We call this the” Syringe Service Program “because we recognize that we are not just replacing the syringe with a new one. “

Two members who oppose the program say they have enabled drug users by providing the supplies they need to inject the drug, leading to overdose.

“It’s getting worse for first responders to someone in Narkan. This is one of the things I’m really struggling with and not accountable,” Mike Jones said at a recent meeting. It was. “They leave the endoplasmic reticulum, nothing – nothing happens, that is, nothing happens.”

In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, commissioner Randy Julian calls the program a “welfare program for addicts.”

Carrie Lawrence, Deputy Director of the Rural Center for AIDS / Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention at Indiana University, said cutting off the supply of clean syringes to help people suffering from addiction stop injecting drugs. I say I can’t. It may continue even if the needle is dirty. “That’s how Indiana became known for our HIV outbreak,” she says.

“More people are at risk,” she says, when she closes the syringe replacement.

Kelly Hans suffered from addiction before the outbreak and is currently working as an HIV Prevention Outreach Coordinator on the Needle and Needle Change Program. She says removing the program will have a major impact on the county’s recovery system.

“I wish there was a place like this before it happened in 2015, when I was using it, and when I was confused,” she says. “I didn’t have a place to go to ask for help. The recovery wasn’t too noisy here in Scott County, so I didn’t even know who to go to.”

Last year, 1,885 people in the region sought help at the THRIVE Recovery Community Organization in Scottsburg. More than a quarter of them were introduced by the county needle exchange.

The exchange provides Narkan and information to help people safely use the drug to prevent illness and avoid overdose.

Lawrence began investigating the situation in Scott County from the beginning. She says the trust built between the exchange and the IV drugs that use the community has made it effective.

“You can’t just throw a tent in the middle of the parking lot to do this,” she says.

However, commissioners say they are dissatisfied with the cure for HIV and the lack of recovery from drug use.

“I don’t know how to get someone to say’it’s enough’,” Mike Jones said at a recent meeting.

Health officials warn about what’s happening in West Virginia, where cases of HIV and hepatitis C are occurring spike May elected officials crack down on needle exchange.

In Scott County, Matane states that by sharing addiction resources and sexually transmitted disease and HIV testing services, it is possible to move to a needle-less harm reduction program. But she doesn’t think it’s just as effective. Because it is the needle that pulls people into the door. She expects an increase in HIV-infected people if needle replacement is discontinued.

Carrie Lawrence agrees. “Given the history of Scott County’s outbreak, something else could happen,” she says.