The Tippecanoe County Health Department showed off its mobile medical clinic during a presentation of its Gateway to Hope syringe service program. The mobile clinic will be used for health screens and testings, as well as a way to distribute syringes to participants in its program. (Photo: Ron WIlkins/Journal & Courier)
LAFAYETTE — Nearly all of the needles handed out by the Tippecanoe County Health Department in 2019 were returned to be exchanged for clean syringes.
The department received 94.9 percent of the syringes back in its needle exchange program.
Dr. Jeremy Adler, the county's health officer, spent about 30 minutes presenting 2019 stats for the Gateway to Hope, the county's needle exchange program implemented in August 2017.
The state health department's standard for reporting the rate of returned needles is to compare the number of needles given to Gateway to Hope participants and the needles returned to the program in exchange for new, clean needles, Adler said.
That rate is nearly 95 percent, according to Adler's presentation Wednesday in the Tippecanoe Room at the County Building.
“That return rate includes only syringes from returning participants in the program,” he said. “The state average for that number is 80 percent, so our program has been performing better than the state average.”
Adler explained the controversial needle exchange program.
“It’s a comprehensive harm-reduction program," he said. "It was started as an evidence-based response to a local public health emergency due to a rise of Hepatitis C cases here in our county.”
Reducing drug addicts' use of dirty needles reduces new cases of Hepatitis C and helps to prevent an HIV outbreak, as well as safely disposes of syringes and creates a pathway to treatment and social services for addicts, Adler said.
Tippecanoe County reported 54 new Hepatitis C cases in 2013, but by 2017 when the program was started, the new cases rose to 176.
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