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Update: A tale of two nasty needles in Richmond

After Richmond News story, Vancouver Coastal Health updates website with more information on where to dispose of used hypodermic needles
needles
Two used hypodermic syringes were found outside the Richmond News office at No. 3 and Lansdowne roads. The newspaper found out it's not that simple to get rid of the needles.

After the Richmond News published a story last week about finding and disposing of two used hypodermic needles, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has updated its own and HealthLink BC's websites to include more detailed information.

As well as the Gilwest Clinic at Richmond Hospital, (which has restrictive hours of opening) needles can also be taken to the VCH needle exchange at 8100 Granville Ave., which is open from Monday to Friday 830 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the  Anne Vogel Clinic at 8160 Cook Rd., also during office hours.

Free sharps containers, say VCH, are available where needle exchange services are offered.

Original story below:

 

Would you know what to do if you found a used hypodermic needle in your yard or in your office parking lot in Richmond?

We, at the Richmond News, had no idea what to do when we discovered two such items at the side of our building on No. 3 and Lansdowne roads last week.

At first blush, it seemed straightforward and, after a quick Google search, we called the “Needle Pick-up Hotline” and left them a voicemail with our address. Simple enough?

Alas, the gentleman from the 20 hours per day service, run in conjunction with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), called back to say they only operate in Vancouver.

More Internet trawling led to a call to Richmond Health Services, a provincial government agency under VCH, which seemed to offer some resolution to the needle dilemma.

Some telephone tag later produced a conversation with a very helpful Richmond environmental health officer, Dalton Cross, who explained that the City of Richmond, with special tools, would come deal with the needles if they were found on city property.

“If the needle is on private property,” said Cross, “it’s basically up to the person in question to deal with it.”

“Here, in Richmond, there are no programs in place (such as in Vancouver) to deal with the situation.

“There is a needle exchange (at Richmond Hospital) and some pharmacies may take them if the needles are in a ‘sharps container,’ which you can buy in most pharmacies.

“When picking them up, though, don’t touch them; use tongs or something to pick them up and put them in the sharps.”

Cross said Richmond, thankfully, doesn’t have the demand for a dedicated needle pick-up service that Vancouver does.

“Richmond hasn’t grown to that extent; you’re only the second person this year that’s called about this,” Cross told us.

Armed with a new sharps container, the News, with the help of salad tongs (which were binned afterwards), carefully placed the needles into the red tub.

The story doesn’t quite end there, however.

After arriving at Richmond Hospital, in search of the aforementioned needle exchange at the Gilwest clinic, we were directed rather vaguely down a corridor by the main reception.

There was more searching around for 10 minutes or so — with no staff anywhere to help — looking in vain for the clinic.

The Gilwest desk finally located, the News stood for another five minutes, waiting for someone to appear, before realizing on a piece of paper taped to the wall that the clinic was only open for a couple of hours on a Monday.

Having already spent about five hours over two days trying to dispose responsibly of two needles, the News, safe in the knowledge the offending items were in a safe place, tucked the sharps container behind the clinic’s desk.

We apologize if this was irresponsible.