9th - Harm Reduction Coalition

9th
National Harm Reduction Conference
FROM PUBLIC HEALTH TO SOCIAL JUSTICE
Neil Flynn, M.D., M.P.H. has focused most of his nearly 40 year career in medicine on treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS - primarily
among drug users. As a result of working with drug users, he has developed a growing interest in buprenorphine substitution
therapy for opiate dependence. He is an advocate for drug user rights, and believes strongly in decriminalization of drug use
as much as possible, replacing it with a public health, medical, and psychosocial model. He considers the current criminalization
model a violation of human rights, and decries its racist and classist policies. Dr. Flynn received his undergraduate degree from
UCLA in bacteriology in 1970, his medical degree from Ohio State University in 1973, completed his residency in internal medicine
at Loma Linda University in 1976, his specialty training in infectious diseases from the University of California Davis, and his
master of public health degree from UC Berkeley in 1995. He has published articles in peer-reviewed journals on the topics of
hospital-acquired infection, various infectious diseases including MRSA, and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. He retired from
UC Davis in 2009.
Formo, Samuel, St.James Infirmary, San Framcisco, CA
samislick@yahoo.com
Satellite Syringe Exchange: Building Collaboration
As an answer to getting clean syringes to IDUs who cannot access syringe exchange programs (SEPs), many providers have
set up participants as satellite syringe exchangers (SSE). To reach out further and get clean syringes to underserved communities,
we can improve our SSE programs through collaboration. In San Francisco, all SEPs are now under one contract,
working collectively to provide underserved neighborhoods, build alliances with law enforcement and city residents and assess
the real needs of community members. Using this as a model for developing an SSE collaborative, it seems essential
that SSE participants should come together, share their knowledge, gain some new tools with which to feel empowered and
become leaders in their endeavors. The purpose of this workshop is to help HRC attendees come up with ways to widen syringe
distribution, empower SSE participants and continue dialogue around the importance of SSE programs. This workshop
will feature statistics showing how many people are served by SSE participants in contrast to how many are served at fixed
sites. There will be a discussion on what makes a collaborative work and how to manage challenges as they arise. Surveys
conducted among SSE’s will illustrate the success of this effort.
Sam Formo is the Syringe Access and Disposal Program Coordinator at St. James Infirmary, an occupational health and safety
clinic for current and former sex workers. Sam’s dedication to providing harm reduction options and overdose prevention strategies
to active drug users is rooted in the belief that this population deserves human rights as much as anybody else. Sam has
implemented and maintained a satellite syringe exchange program and is currently working on building an SSE collaborative.
Frost, Taeko, Washington Heights CORNER Project (WHCP), NY, NY
taeko@cornerproject.org
Participant Bathroom Management
Drug users get high in public bathrooms, perhaps especially if the bathroom is in a syringe exchange program. As program
staff, how do we maintain an accessible, safe space for participants and still protect fellow participants and staff from needle
stick injury, blood exposure and septic system shut down How do we monitor the bathrooms to prevent fatal overdose
Striking the balance between access, safety, and efficiency is challenging: what has and hasn’t worked in your program
What message about drug use in the bathroom does your program communicate and in what way We invite attendees to
share their experiences at this round table to critically think about your program and what could be done better to protect
participants and staff. This discussion may be particularly helpful for staff who are working in new programs or programs
that have added syringe exchange to an existing program that may not have the knowledge and experience of those in the
room. We hope that this conversation will be the first of many to continually work to support participant and staff safety
around participant bathroom management in the context of SIFs being illegal.
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