A social service worker with the Porcupine Health Unit is confident that the community clean-up in downtown Timmins on Saturday… picked up the majority of discarded syringes on the streets.
They were a special focus of the event that was also picking up trash. Christianne Blain says the 80 volunteers did a great job.
We’ve had several city of Timmins trucks full, numerous times,” she tells My Timmins Now Dot Com.
Twenty needles and one epi-pen don’t seem like a lot, but Blain notes that the health unit had a return program in April and May: grocery store certificates for turning them in.
“We can attribute a lot of the syringes not being on the streets because people are educated and they’re bringing back their sharps.”
Saturday’s event featured several educational displays and a barbecue for the volunteers.
Blain says it will be back.
“This is going to be an annual event through the Timmins and Area Drug Strategy led by the Porcupine Health Unit,” she says, “and many more agencies that are working in the community and collaborating together.”
