Monroe County’s Syringe Service Program will continue for two more years after approval from the state health department and Monroe County Commissioners.
The first approval for the program was in 2015 and had to be approved annually, but now will be renewed every two years.
The Monroe County Health Department partners with Indiana Recovery Alliance (IRA) to provide the program, which provides clean syringes to drug-injecting users in order to prevent infection and public outbreaks.
Administrator at the Monroe County Health Department Penny Caudill says that the program addresses not only an individual, but a public health issue.
“They’re there to meet with them on a regular basis so that when they’re ready for whatever recovery service might be appropriate for them that they know who they can ask to get that,” she says.
Caudill says the program helps reduce the Hepatitis C virus and HIV infections by ensuring that users are not sharing needles.
The renewal allows the program to continue its work with mobile units and office hours assisting people with housing, food, and mental health issues. The program is the largest in Indiana out of nine different syringe exchange programs.
IRA is a non-profit, so the program gets most of its funding from the health department and grants. Over the next two years, the health department will contribute around $20,000.