In exchange, wider community steps in.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

Nita cares enough about her health to wear a helmet when she rides her bike around Eugene, and to turn on her headlamp when she rides at night.

And when she shoots up heroin, she is a strong proponent of safe injection habits. A needle is to be used once and disposed of, she said - "not something to be loaned or borrowed."

"I do not allow anyone to use another person's rig. It's not healthy," she said. "Even though you're a drug user, you have to learn to respect yourself."

Keeping Nita and the 10,000 other injection drug users in the community free from disease is the driving force behind HIV Alliance's six-year-old needle exchange program.

But alliance leaders decided last summer that they could no longer afford to fund the program, despite the good it does in preventing the spread of disease and in keeping dirty needles out of the streets and parks. In the months since, they've been working to find new sources of funding and to make it a community supported program.

As a result, HIV Alliance will soon be turning the needle exchange over to a new community coalition that will oversee the program that hands out 50,000 syringes each month to injection drug addicts.

The fledgling Harm Reduction Coalition plans to assume responsibility for funding the largest needle exchange in the state early next year. HIV Alliance will continue to staff and operate the program it began in 1999, said Diane Lang, the agency's executive director.

The new coalition, which includes representatives from the two local hospitals, public health and law enforcement, "will ensure it survives as a jointly run, community-run program," Lang said.

"The community is very committed to keeping this program around," said Sharon Chamberlain, HIV Alliance's assistant director. "They recognize the benefits of providing prevention services to this population as well as the benefits of having a point of contact on the streets with an often disenfranchised community."

PeaceHealth, which provides $25,000 worth of needles each year and disposes of used needles, has been a key supporter of the program since its inception. The exchange also relies on grants and community partners such as Lane County Public Health, which conducts needle exchanges in the parks and in homeless camps of rural Lane County.

New supporters include the Lane Independent Practice Association, which administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County, which is contributing $25,000.

McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center officials have discussed providing in-kind donations and staff time to the program, but haven't yet decided how exactly to support the exchange, said Susan Alger, who manages the hospital's care management department.

Alger, who also serves on the new harm reduction coalition, said moving the exchange from HIV Alliance to a group with broader community support is a good move.

"This is a service that is more of a community function to begin with," she said. "It's good for the community to take ownership and have a vested interest in seeing this valuable service is continued."

Supporters of the program say for a relatively small investment - less than $150,000 - the exchange can reach virtually every injection drug user in Lane County, thereby preventing new HIV and Hepatitis C infections. The lifetime cost of treating a single case of HIV is about $150,000.

Addicts who use the program are less likely to share needles, which reduces the spread of disease, and they are less likely to reuse dull, dirty needles that can cause infections and lead to hospital visits.

The exchange also reduces the number of dirty needles discarded in the community because addicts must turn over their old needles to get new ones.

When they exchange their needles, injection drug users can get tested for HIV and vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B. They also can get referrals for treatment.

"It's keeping them safe until they have a chance to turn their lives around," Lang said.

The work itself takes place four times a week: Mondays and Wednesday nights at the end of Blair Boulevard, Thursday nights in Glenwood, and Friday afternoons in the Acorn Center at the HIV Alliance office on Garden Way.

Users stop in, dump their old needles in red plastic boxes, and pick up new needles and other supplies.

One recent Friday at the Acorn Center, users stopped in sporadically during the afternoon. A nurse and a volunteer helped people when they came in, red and green Christmas lights hanging on the wall.

The first visitor was a man carrying a blue tote filled with about 2,000 needles. Most addicts exchange about 60 needles at a time, Chamberlain said, and often exchange for their friends. For every 10 new needles handed out, nine are returned - one of the highest exchange rates in the country.

Cindy, a heroin addict, stopped in on her way into work. She's used the exchange not just for needles but also to get a Hepatitis B shot and to get gauze and bandages for an abscess on her leg. She said she's "luckier" than most addicts.

"I work," she said. "I have a home. I support my children. I support my habit."

The street exchange is a little grittier, and a lot colder. Just before 6 p.m. on a Monday evening, with temperatures dropping into the mid-30s, an old white Chevrolet van parked at the end of Blair Boulevard, next to the railroad tracks.

Kelly Moore, director of HIV counseling and testing, and volunteer Amanda McCluskey, a University of Oregon junior, got out and set up a table with condoms, sterile water, tins and a stack of booklets on how to safely inject drugs. Next to the van they put out a row of bins filled with used clothing and shoes for the taking.

Before long, users began showing up, on foot, on bike and in cars. They chatted with the alliance workers as they exchanged their needles and grabbed a cup of hot chocolate to ward off the chill.

Tim, a 54-year-old homeless addict wearing a Planet Hollywood ball cap, boots and paint-stained jeans, said he comes by about once a week to exchange needles, even though he hates to carry them around. "You hate to be caught with one," he said.

Nita pulled up on her bike with a friend, dropped off about 180 needles and picked up 200.

"If it wasn't for this place, I'd be scrambling around to get a rig," she said.

CAPTION(S):

HIV Alliance volunteer UO student Amanda McCluskey (center) and staff member Kelly Moore (right) hand out needles on Blair Boulevard in Eugene. HIV Alliance's needle exchange hands out 50,000 syringes monthly. Drug addicts who use the program are less likely to share needles, which reduces the spread of disease. INSIDE PHOTOCreditLineq=rf=Miller RomanSC s=7.5 l=8f=PoyRG Italic s=7.5 l=8l+6oCaptionf=PoyGT Black s=9.5o