TICONDEROGA — The Alliance for Positive Health will be expanding its
Syringe Exchange Program into Ticonderoga next month in an effort to
prevent HIV and hepatitis C.
Ticonderoga Police Chief Mark Johns, with support from Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague, approached the Alliance for Positive Health to provide this service to address the increasing heroin epidemic.
The needle exchange, which is free, will take place at 166 Champlain Ave., Ticonderoga, according to Taylor Gibbons, harm-reduction supervisor at the Alliance for Positive Health site in Plattsburgh.
And every person who comes in for new syringes is given a Narcan kit; that drug reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, saving lives, he said.
The Ticonderoga site will be open 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday and the third Thursday of each month.
The anticipated date to begin services is April 21.
TRAINING
Since last year, the Alliance for Positive Health’s Plattsburgh office has been providing law enforcement, fire departments and the general community in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Washington and Hamilton counties with free Narcan training to save lives after opioid overdoses.
After contacted by Johns, agency staff worked to find a space to house the syringe-exchange program in Ticonderoga and worked with the AIDS Institute in providing the information needed to allow this expansion.
61,000 NEEDLES
The Alliance for Positive Health started its syringe-exchange program last year at the Plattsburgh office, located at 202 Cornelia St., where it has been reported that 61,000 syringes have been turned in.
There were also 28 overdose reversals reported from June 2015 through February 2016.
The Alliance for Positive Health’s syringe-exchange program saw 118 clients in eight months, according to Diana Aguglia, regional director at the Alliance for Positive Health.
“The program results in fewer needles that can be found improperly discarded in the community,” she said in a news release.
'UNDERSERVED'
The agency said that the move into Essex County "is part of an effort to take the program into an underserved area, which will allow injection drug users access to new, sterile syringes and other harm-reduction supplies, testing for HIV and hepatitis C and referrals to health and social services, including drug treatment."
The syringes are also available for injecting insulin and hormones, the release said.
The program's expansion was approved by the State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute and most recently by the Ticonderoga Town Council.
Ticonderoga Police Chief Mark Johns, with support from Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague, approached the Alliance for Positive Health to provide this service to address the increasing heroin epidemic.
The needle exchange, which is free, will take place at 166 Champlain Ave., Ticonderoga, according to Taylor Gibbons, harm-reduction supervisor at the Alliance for Positive Health site in Plattsburgh.
And every person who comes in for new syringes is given a Narcan kit; that drug reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, saving lives, he said.
The Ticonderoga site will be open 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday and the third Thursday of each month.
The anticipated date to begin services is April 21.
TRAINING
Since last year, the Alliance for Positive Health’s Plattsburgh office has been providing law enforcement, fire departments and the general community in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Washington and Hamilton counties with free Narcan training to save lives after opioid overdoses.
After contacted by Johns, agency staff worked to find a space to house the syringe-exchange program in Ticonderoga and worked with the AIDS Institute in providing the information needed to allow this expansion.
61,000 NEEDLES
The Alliance for Positive Health started its syringe-exchange program last year at the Plattsburgh office, located at 202 Cornelia St., where it has been reported that 61,000 syringes have been turned in.
There were also 28 overdose reversals reported from June 2015 through February 2016.
The Alliance for Positive Health’s syringe-exchange program saw 118 clients in eight months, according to Diana Aguglia, regional director at the Alliance for Positive Health.
“The program results in fewer needles that can be found improperly discarded in the community,” she said in a news release.
'UNDERSERVED'
The agency said that the move into Essex County "is part of an effort to take the program into an underserved area, which will allow injection drug users access to new, sterile syringes and other harm-reduction supplies, testing for HIV and hepatitis C and referrals to health and social services, including drug treatment."
The syringes are also available for injecting insulin and hormones, the release said.
The program's expansion was approved by the State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute and most recently by the Ticonderoga Town Council.
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