500 needles found, cleaned up in Wallaceburg

One city councillor in Chatham-Kent is calling it "staggering" after 500 needles were found in one spot in Wallaceburg.

Chatham-Kent councillor Aaron Hall spotted a Facebook post by one of his Wallaceburg constituents, saying he'd seen the needles when on a walk with his son.

So Hall called Chatham-Kent Public Health and went out to meet them.

"When we found the location, a bunch of the needles were floating in this puddle," said Hall."They got a net to kind of fish some of the needles out, and as they fished out the ones on the surface more came out."

Hall said in total, about 500 needles were collected by the public health staff.

"The number is staggering," said Hall, adding that the spot is likely a dump site, not a site where people are using the needles.

The number of needles picked up "opens your eyes" to how deep-seated of an issue this is, said Hall.

"While I'm grateful that our staff was able to get out there right away, there are issues that need to be addressed at the provincial level, the municipal level," said Hall.

Health unit initiatives

According to Caress Lee Carpenter, community outreach and public relations for Chatham-Kent Public Health, it's difficult to identify if there are any hot spots where peopleoften drop needles.

"The Needle Syringe Program, which is run out of CK Public Health's Clinic Services building helps to protect the public by reducing the number of needles discarded in places like playgrounds and washrooms, which are generally common areas for disposal in many communities both within and outside of Chatham-Kent," said Carpenter in an email.

The area where the needles were found was on the property line between public and private property. Public health checked with local businesses in the area before they gained access to the spot.

In Chatham-Kent, there are numerous sharps disposal containers in the municipalities, similar to the ones throughout Windsor. Carpenter said the health unit is working to relocate one that used to be at AIDS Support Chatham-Kent to a different location now that the organization has closed.

Carpenter said the health unit is workingon adding more disposal bins across the community.

Hall and publichealth officials are hoping the shock factor of 500 needles being picked up kick-starts an education for the public.

"We need to let the public know what the proper way to dispose of these needles are," said Hall."We'll be working with public health and come up with ideas to alleviate this problem and keep everybody safe."

The health unit is expanding the Needle Syringe Program and will also be releasing a new education material on how to safely dispose of found needles.