Representatives supporting the “Prevent Pricks” program prepare to cut a ribbon marking the installation of a third “sharps kiosk” in the county. The latest kiosk, meant to accommodate safe disposal of hypodermic needles, at the Miami County Recycling District location on Logansport Road is the third the group has seen installed in a little over a year. Photo contributed
Representatives supporting the “Prevent Pricks” program prepare to cut a ribbon marking the installation of a third “sharps kiosk” in the county. The latest kiosk, meant to accommodate safe disposal of hypodermic needles, at the Miami County Recycling District location on Logansport Road is the third the group has seen installed in a little over a year. Photo contributed
A little more than a year after they first launched an effort to make things a little safer around Miami County, a group of organizers have overseen the installation of a third disposal site for hypodermic needles.

The group, dubbed the Miami County Works Collaborative, announced the newest of what they called a “sharps kiosk” this week at the Miami County Recycling District site at 2651 West Logansport Road.

Launched in October 2020, the “Prevent Pricks” program, has sought to install the kiosks to “protect the public health of all residents in the community,” a news release announcing the location said.

“With the new kiosk installed, residents no longer need to show a state I.D. when disposing of syringes at the recycling district,” the release said. “By properly disposing of used syringes, communities can decrease residential exposure to Hepatitis A, B, C, HIV/AIDS, and MRSA and protect the street department workers from accidental needle pricks in Peru.”

The group, at the time headed up by Miami County United Way Executive Director Debi Wallick and Antonia Sawyer of the organization Ship Happens which works on solving problems surrounding addiction, announced their first location at the east of Canal Street at the end of November 2020.

Since that time, a second kiosk was installed off of North Broadway near Walgreens, Wallick said Tuesday. The Peru Rotary Club and Miami-Cass REMC have also joined the effort.

For more information on the three kiosk locations or how to get involved with future projects, reach out to Debi Wallick of the Miami County Works Collaborative at (765) 473-4240 or by email at debiw@uwmiamip.org.
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