FORKS — Clallam County quietly opened a syringe exchange in Forks last year, but officials said during a Board of Health meeting this week that the opening might have been a little too quiet.
The syringe exchange has seen only two to three clients per month since September, said Andy Brastad, director of Health and Human Services, during a Board of Health meeting at Forks Community Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
“We were expecting a heavier case load than that,” Brastad said, adding there are no plans to end the program.
The syringe exchange in Port Angeles, which exchanges syringes on close to a one-to-one basis every Tuesday, collected data from its clients and learned that about 34 people drive from the West End to Port Angeles to the exchange.
Brastad said the syringe exchange in Port Angeles provided handouts to clients to let them know about the exchange in Forks, which is every second Monday at the Health Department office at 140 C St.
“From what I understand those clients tend to talk a lot to each other, so we were thinking the word would get out that way,” Brastad said.
Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Unthank said that they can do a better job of contacting providers, an effort she hopes would make more people aware that the exchange is there.
“We don’t want to make it too big of a deal in town, but we could do a better job of outreach to our health care providers in town,” she said. “We can do a little more outreach to the specific folks who take care of this clientele.”
The goal of syringe exchanges is to reduce the spread of disease and to encourage people to bring in needles that could otherwise end up on the street. At the exchange, clients who want to seek help can be connected with services.
Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach, who represents the West End, said Tuesday he likes the idea of having a syringe exchange in Forks.
“It does a lot for the community in terms of health and stops the spread of certain diseases,” Peach said following the meeting.
“By having regular contact with a health person, sooner or later there will be the day when the individual says ‘I want to do something different with my life,’ ” he added.
Peach said he liked that the opening of the exchange was “low key” and avoided controversy. He said there were no banners or advertisements.
But he also said he believes people are more accepting now of the idea of syringe exchanges.
“If you turn the clock back 15 to 20 years ago, I don’t think it would be accepted by the public,” Peach said. “It’s more and more accepted.”
Unthank said syringe exchange staff have started asking people in Port Angeles why they continue to drive from the West End when there is now an exchange in Forks.
What officials have learned is that having the exchange open only once a month has made it difficult. If someone used only the Forks exchange they would need to save their syringes for a full month and they would have to remember the date of the exchange.
Unthank said without more clients it’s hard to justify adding extra days.
“It’s hard to use county funds to come out more often when we only have three clients,” she said. “It’s a little of a chicken-and-egg issue.”
She said clients who continue to drive to Port Angeles also have expressed concern about being seen exchanging syringes in Forks.
They would rather go to Port Angeles where they are less known, she said.
“It’s a very small town,” Unthank said. “Some of them feel like they are very known in Forks and they don’t want to be seen exchanging in their home turf.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
Andy Brastad, director of the Clallam County Department of Health and Human Services, discusses the Forks syringe exchange during a Board of Health meeting in Forks on Tuesday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
