Wayne Co. moves toward needle exchange program

Wayne County is moving closer to asking the state health commissioner to approve a needle exchange or drop-off program in the county.

Health Department Director Eric Coulter told the Wayne County Council on Wednesday the health department board has picked up the conversation after fielding requests from several health care individuals and agencies in the community.

“We’re getting a lot of input from the community,” Coulter said. “I think it’s a good public health measure, but the discussion is in its infancy.”

The Indiana House and Senate in May passed legislation allowing county officials to petition the state health commissioner to legally distribute clean needles to IV drug users for the next 12 months.

The legislation was in response to an outbreak of new HIV cases in Scott County. That county became the first to take advantage of the new law.

Madison County also has been granted the program because of an outbreak of new hepatitis C cases there.

Experts say an increase in hepatitis C and HIV cases, heroin use and drug overdoses are indicators that a needle exchange program is needed. Those numbers spike, they say, when intravenous drug users share or reuse needles.

In Wayne County, health department and other professionals say they have seen an increase, especially in cases of hepatitis C.

“I think the numbers will show that it is definitely needed here,” said Lisa Suttle, director of psychiatric services at Reid Hospital and chairman of the Heroin Is Here group, based at Reid. “It’s definitely something that needs to be discussed.”

Coulter said the county health clinic also has seen an increase in hepatitis C cases.

“It’s coming from the hep C issue. There is a high incidence in our county. That’s a indication that it could affect our HIV numbers,” he said.

But current numbers were not available Wednesday.

The Indiana State Department of Health recently created community health profiles for all 92 counties. But those profiles were based on 2013 and 2014 numbers.

For instance, Wayne County had fewer than five new HIV cases in 2014 and had 89 people living with HIV in the county that year.

But the county had 122 new cases of hepatitis C in 2013 and had an average of 13 drug poisoning deaths each year between 2009 and 2013.

By comparison, Scott County had fewer than five new HIV cases in 2014 and 21 people living with HIV. The county had 62 new hepatitis C cases reported in 2013 and averaged 10 drug poisoning deaths between 2009 and 2013.

But that was before Scott County’s incidence of HIV exploded. The first new case appeared in December 2014. By Jan. 23, there were 11 new cases. By Feb. 23, that number was 26, and by March 20, it was 55.

As of March 26, there were 79 new cases of HIV.

“It’s something we have to be very aware of and be very concerned about,” said Wayne County Council president Pete Zaleski. “If we can prevent an outbreak here, then it’s something we need to do.”

Zaleski, a pharmacist, said customers inquire locally about a needle exchange or drop-off program “on a fairly regular basis.”

If local officials agree, the county would petition the state health commissioner, who could declare an epidemic and allow the program.

Beyond that, lots of questions remain, including who would pay for the program and where it would be located.

Amanda Turney, deputy information director at the state health department, said, “No state or federal dollars are used to support a needle exchange program.”

“We’re not sure of exactly how it would all work and not sure where the funding would come from,” said county board of commissioners president Ken Paust. “And we know that not everybody in the community will support something like this.

“But I think it’s a good thing. If we can hold down the number of cases and prevent an outbreak, then it’s important to the community,” he said.

Staff writer Bill Engle: (765) 973-4481 or bengle@pal-item.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/billengle_PI.