MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Milan Puskar HealthRight is seeking approval from the city and county to approve the syringe access program called Living in Good Health Together (LIGHT) program. Executive Director Laura Jones said the rules brought on by Senate Bill 334 in the last legislative session has changed the program, specifically the one-to-one syringe exchange requirement.
“To date this year, we will not reach the number of syringes that we gave out in the past,” Jones said. “Because we’re now moving to a one-to-one exchange.”
Jones said the professionals at the HIV Clinic at WVU believe the program is preventing the spread of dangerous drug-related infections.
“They strongly believe the Light Project and the Harm Reduction Program we have here is the only reason we have not seen a huge increase of HIV in our community,” Jones said.
Cassidy Thompson is the LIGHT Program Director and said from June to September of 2022, 126,248 needles were returned, 90 NARCAN training sessions were given. about 2,300 fentanyl test strips were distributed at WVU and Morgantown bars and nearly 200 education sessions were held with clients.
“We distributed 999 Naloxone kits and we had 160 overdoses that were reversed and reported to us,” Thompson said. “And 100-percent of those overdoses resulted in the recipient being alive.”
Thompson said the increase of HIV infections will add to their harm reduction mission. A report from the CDC estimates there are 2,400 people in the state with HIV and up to 19-percent don’t know they’re infected.
“In the coming year we want to implement widening the variety of sexual harm reduction supplies offered at our Harm Reduction Clinics, like we said HIV is in our backdoor,” Thompson said. “There’s an outbreak in Clarksburg and I don’t think it’s going to stop there.”
A high percentage of HIV infections are blamed on injecting drugs, so testing is another service offered through the LIGHT Program. Thompson wants as many clients tested as possible for HIV and Hepatitis C.
“We are currently working on a gift card donation raffle,” Thompson said. “To enter anyone that gets tested and wants to be entered into a monthly raffle and they can win gift cards for getting tested.”
Morgantown City Council and the Monongalia County Commission must approve the program by December.