Discarded syringes, needles removed near Heinz Lofts
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A KDKA Investigation gets action.
KDKA showed the discarded syringes and needles near the Heinz Lofts on the North Side, posing a public health threat to anyone venturing near.
On Thursday, the city took action. KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan broke the story and was the only reporter at the scene.
Less than 48 hours after the initial report, Public Works crews moved in, clearing out the garbage and picking up more than 1,000 discarded syringes.
KDKA showed dangerous health hazards. Hundreds of used syringes were discarded in piles, and others were scattered amid the grass and the garbage of a homeless encampment, creating a danger to anyone walking through.
And early Thursday morning, Public Works crews marshaling front loaders and pick forks went to work, carefully raking the debris and syringes into piles and loading them into pickup trucks to haul away.
Even though the action came less than two days after KDKA called attention to the threat, the city says the clean-up has been in the works for some time, and had warned the people living there they were coming.
"We've been aware of concerns about that encampment from a public health perspective, and so we've been working with the residents of that encampment," Mayor Gainey's press secretary, Maria Montano, said.
The city conceded its needle exchange program has problems, specifically that syringes aimed at protecting addicts from HIV and Hepatitis C weren't being exchanged or safely disposed of but merely discarded at sites around the city, like near the Sarah Heinz after-school program, and the Heinz Lofts.
"The syringes are obviously a concern for everyone, both from ending transmittable diseases, that's why needle exchanges are critically important from a public health perspective, but it also means we need to better dispose of those needles where they're being used," Montano added.
To that end, the city said it will be working with partners like Prevention Point Pittsburgh to put boxes and other containers near encampments and other sites for their safe disposal.
Additionally, the city said it will be cleaning up garbage and used syringes at smaller sites around the city. In just two hours, the crews made quick work of the debris in an encampment, leaving a relatively pristine site with only two or three people still living there.
Now, the city still needs to clean up syringes that have been discarded along the waterfronts and some alleyways Downtown and make changes to this program to make it an actual needle exchange.