Powell River Fire Rescue (PRFR) has stepped in to help with the disposal of used needles collected from medical and dental clinics as well as from tattoo artists. Over 500 pounds of needles, referred to as sharps, were collected and disposed of through a coordinated community effort last month.
Dan Ouellette, PRFR chief and director of fire and emergency services for the City of Powell River, believes the volume of sharps will decrease in subsequent collections, now that the system has been established.
“It really is not that intrusive on our operation here,” Ouellette added. “And we’re happy to extend the service to the community.”
More than 11 different general practitioners and dentists in the Powell River use sharps as part of their services.
Laurie Fuller, clinical manager of the Medical Clinic Associates, requested help from Powell River Division of Family Practice with the disposal of used sharps last November. She suggested a community system be established to handle the pickup and disposal of sharps after Powell River General Hospital stopped taking them.
Clinics and other practices under BC law are responsible for their used sharps’ storage, transport and disposal, which Fuller explained was expensive for each clinic to handle individually. Many clinics, in the absence of a plan, had been stockpiling their sharps over the past few years. According to the division of family practice, it is outside of the hospital’s mandate to assist with other clinics’ sharps.
An ad hoc sharps plan had been organized, but did not include all clinics.
Jorge Villamil, project manager for the division, approached Powell River Fire Rescue to help in the program because the firefighters are trained to handle and dispose of used needles found in the community.
Villamil explained to Ouellette that what was needed was a central secure location that could be used for a couple of hours twice a year, in February and August, to serve as a drop off and collection point for the sharps.
The first collection was organized at the end of March with the firefighters opening the firehall up for clinics to drop off their sharps. The sharps were then packaged and 13 boxes were handed off to City Transfer which delivered them to the Lower Mainland for disposal. Clinics using the service are invoiced for their share of the expense by the division.
