The Grays Harbor County Board of Health passed a resolution Thursday to end the county’s syringe exchange program April 1.

The meeting included a statement from county health officer Dr. John Bausher, who told the board the needle exchange mitigates the spread of disease and asked that the board consider the possible effects on public health and local hospitals if more sick people are added to “an already overloaded system.” There was more than two hours of public comment before the vote. The board is made up of the three County Commissioners, and each voted as they previously told the Daily World they would: newly-elected commissioners Jill Warne and Kevin Pine voted to eliminate the program and Commissioner Vickie Raines voted against that.

After the lengthy public comment session, which leaned in favor of keeping the program, the board members spoke briefly before taking up the vote.

Of the county’s harm reduction programs designed to control the spread of infectious disease, of which the syringe exchange is a part, Pine said, “The syringe aspect is what we want to do away with.” He said the county should focus its programs on rehabilitation, working with the homeless, the drug addiction and mental health aspects surrounding those issues.

“We’re not heartless,” said Pine. “If you really care about people, let’s get them into rehabilitation programs. That’s what we want to focus on.”

In response to public comment about how the syringe exchange is a small expense to the county, Warne said they were “not factoring in loss of business and property values and jobs.” She added, “Don’t tell me I’m not compassionate,” saying she had a family member in drug addiction, and what she was told during the family member’s recovery is to not enable the addictive behavior, “and that’s what we’re doing” with the syringe exchange.

Raines disagreed with the description of the exchange as a program that merely enabled addicts.

“I don’t see it that way. My responsibility as a Board of Health member is to make decisions regarding the public health of all people in Grays Harbor County,” said Raines. “I don’t care (about) the citizen’s race, what political party or what district they live in. What I do care about is public health.” She said her duty is to work with state and local medical professionals and healthcare providers “to ensure we are doing all we can to keep our community healthy.”

Comment

Below is a sampling of the public comment received at Thursday’s meeting.

Bausher told the board that “the description of public health is to mitigate the spread of disease, and we heard from the previous meeting from the Department of Health and hospitals for understanding the potential impacts of an already overloaded system the termination of the (syringe exchange) could have.” He added, “I just ask you to consider the potential consequences” on public health the end of the exchange could bring.

Past Director of Grays Harbor County Public Health Maryann Welch said in her tenure in public health she had worked with about 17 county commissioners, and most were initially not aware of the distinction between their roles as county commissioners and board of health members.

She said she believed the role of the board of health, as described by state law, “means all decisions by the board of health must be made based on public health, the spread of disease, not necessarily what is popular or political.” She said the initial resolution that established the program in 2004 “to specifically provide for the control and prevention of dangerous contagious or infectious diseases within its jurisdiction.” She said she believed that initial resolution “wouldn’t be overturned until the stated health issues are no longer a threat, and I don’t believe that to be true at this time.”

Another past Grays Harbor Public Health Director, Joan Brewster, told the board, “I firmly believe the decision you are poised to make today will result in death. I just want you to consider the blood of those deaths will be on your hands. I spent a career trying to prevent death, the decision you are making is going to cause death. It is inconceivable to me that you would make such a reckless decision simply to fulfill a campaign promise when you didn’t understand the ramifications when you ran for office.”

She called Pine and Warne’s rush to end the program so early in their tenure “political showmanship.” Current Aberdeen City Councilman Nathan Kennedy and a few other commenters agreed.

Newly-seated 19th District Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, spoke about his time walking the Chehalis River near the Walmart complex in Aberdeen and picking up hundreds of discarded dirty needles. He said he did not believe the program was being “operated as advertised” and stood in favor of ending it. “One harm reduction program shouldn’t create an additional harm,” he said.

Summit Pacific Primary Care Medical Director Dr. Shawn Andrews said she was concerned that the loss of the program would eliminate a primary point of contact for addicts to enter treatment. “We have received lots and lots of referrals there,” she said. She was also concerned ending the exchange would affecct the county’s distribution of naloxone to first responders and addicts. “It terrifies me. You can’t help people improve their lives if they are dead.” Naloxone is a drug used to save someone who is having an overdose. As an aspect of the needle exchange, it is distributed to first responders.

Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave said centering the exchange in his town was affecting its livability and causing businesses to shut down.

“The point I have taken, for me, bottom line, is I want it out of Aberdeen,” said Schave. “I believe whole-heartedly that it causes many many issues in Aberdeen that have escalated to the point where we have businesses that have left or closed because of the needle users that hang out and cause issues waiting for their next bagful of needles. You talk about the cost, it doesn’t cost that much to the county, but what about the cost to the City of Aberdeen, the taxpayers of Aberdeen, continuing to clean up the garbage from people who wait for their next bag of needles. When we get to the point where we don’t have an economy any more with the loss of business, what will we have then?”

Schave, Pine and others said having a private entity run the program would be more efficient. Spencer Boudreau, of Longview, said Cowlitz County did so and it has worked, adding he as a member of the Longview Parks Advisory Board, saw a significant decrease in discarded needles in public areas after the exchange went to a one-for-one, privately-operated exchange.

Debi Peraccini of Aberdeen was among a few who said she had gone to the exchange posing as a client and was never offered assistance in the way of programs, “just the tools to feed my addiction and something to help me if I overdose,” she said, referring to the naloxone aspect of the program, the kits provided to first responders and addicts to reverse an overdose. “I’d like to see the program removed from our area. It’s a failure,” she said.

Aberdeen attorney and former east county municipal judge Art Blauvelt rounded out the public comment. “I’ve seen hundreds of defendants battling drug addiction, ranging from those who need needles to those who don’t, and there’s not a silver bullet that solves the problem. Taking away the exchange does not solve the problem.”