LOWELL, Mass. — As the opioid epidemic continues to plague communities, the City of Lowell is providing training to all city employees and forming a special response team to clear the streets of discarded needles.
For Lowell city councilors, the issue hits close to home, with syringes found inside City Hall, on the stairs, in hallways and most often in bathrooms, Lowell City Councilor Corey Belanger told Boston 25 News Thursday.
“A number of needles have been found as of late, and it seems to be ramping up,” said Belanger, who chairs the city’s opioid task force. “So the city manager and the administrators, we all had a task force meeting on the issue and decided that we’re going to tackle this and do everything we can.”
A team of Department of Public Works employees will be on call to respond to reports of discarded syringes and, with their protective gear – gloves, boots and sharps containers – safely dispose of them.
“We felt that we needed an around-the-clock team to tackle this effort when a needle is found, rather than outsource when your hours are rather limited to the situation,” Belanger said.
Outsourcing the work has been a large expense, Belanger said, with the cost of clearing a homeless encampment as much as $10,000 to $20,000.
Meanwhile, city employees have been attending training sessions to learn what to do if they find a needle.
“Be aware of it, mark it or cone it of some sort, find a barrier, so nobody else can get near it, and make a call,” Belanger said.
While opioid use is showing no sign of stopping, overdose deaths are sharply decreasing, especially in Lowell, Belanger said.
Lowell police attributed the decline not only to Narcan but also to the city’s community outreach team, which develops a database of overdose survivors and works with them to stay clean.
“Young men and women are dying,” Belanger said, “and we have to do all we can to stop this situation.”
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