BEDFORD — In the seven weeks since Lawrence County opened its syringe exchange program, 22 people have made 38 visits to the mobile unit that comes to the county once a week.
The majority of those seeking to exchange dirty needles for clean ones, get tested for hepatitis C or HIV, or receive other services are young adults in their 20s.
"Which is exactly what we expected," said Chris Abert, project director for Indiana Recovery Alliance.
Indiana Recovery Alliance is the program provider for Lawrence County, which received approval for its needle exchange program in 2016 after the county's reported cases of hepatitis C increased sharply. Hepatitis C is a chronic infectious disease linked to intravenous drug use. IRA is located in Bloomington and also operates the syringe exchange program for Monroe County.
Tuesday marked the eighth visit IRA has made to Lawrence County. The mobile unit parks behind the Lawrence County Health Department, 2419 Mitchell Road, and is open from 5-7 p.m. every Tuesday.
"It's going really well," said Abert. "It's a needed service. "I think what people don't seem to understand is we're an access point to services. The syringe exchange is a small part."
Abert said IRA has done 38 safety consultations (how not to overdose, how to avoid spreading and contracting infectious disease), given four substance abuse referrals, three Healthy Indiana Plan referrals and a few mental health referrals.
IRA also has distributed 20 naloxone kits, which are used to treat an overdose.
"We've had reports of five uses of the overdose kits," said Abert. "And all five overdoses were reversals, so we've saved five lives."
Abert said the naloxone kits are available to anyone.
Of the 22 who were seen, 14 were women and eight were men. Abert expects the number of visits to increase as more people learn of the program and their trust in it grows.
"It's so hard to reach this population," he said. "This population is so stigmatized and criminalized, it's almost impossible to do outreach."
The program was approved for one year, but the county can request an extension if the program is needed for a longer period.