GIVE US $HOT IN THE ARM
'Exchange' depends on state aid

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
By N. CLARK JUDD
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City officials will get a shot at a long-awaited program aimed at reducing rates of AIDS among drug users - but unless it comes with critical state funding, city officials say they won't take it.

A spokesman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services says the state will accept new applications from cities seeking permission to run needle exchange programs, which would allow drug users to trade used syringes for clean ones, beginning as soon as later this week. City officials missed the original deadline to apply at the end of May.

"Because there was still interest in a syringe exchange program, we extended the deadline," said DHSS spokesman Tom Slater.

But Jersey City's health director, Harry Melendez, says that if the state won't pay for the syringe exchange, the city won't play.

"(The state) should be willing to fund any program which can provide adequate evidence of experience and competence providing services to this population," Melendez said through Mayor Jerramiah Healy's press secretary, Jennifer Morrill. Melendez called the state's decision to authorize syringe exchange programs but leave them unfunded "shortsighted and unproductive."

The state has appropriated $10 million to fund treatment programs for intravenous drug users, but those programs are separate from the syringe exchange initiative. Morrill said that Jersey City's position is the state should reallocate some drug treatment money for needle exchange - but state officials say that won't happen.

"No state money can be used for needle exchange. That's been made very clear to us," said Ellen Lovejoy, a DHSS spokeswoman.

Slater explained that the Bloodborne Disease Harm Reduction Act, which Gov. Corzine signed into law in December, allows the state to authorize syringe exchange programs but not to spend money on them. "The legislation didn't come with any funding attached to it," Slater said.

Atlantic City, Camden, Paterson and Newark have applied for the right to operate syringe exchange programs. Trenton applied, but later withdrew its application.

Roseanne Scotti, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey, says there are other places cities can go to for funding.

"You couldn't fund this before because it wasn't legal," Scotti explained. "Now we're hoping that folks in New Jersey will step up to the plate."

Scotti named several foundations that fund syringe exchange programs, including the Comer Foundation and the Syringe Access Fund, each of which donates tens of thousands of dollars per year, according to their Web sites.

Melendez said that it was too soon to estimate what a program in Jersey City would cost.

Atlantic City's program is to cost $105,000 annually, said Gene Brunner, HIV coordinator for the city. Atlantic City will pay $25,000 a year for supplies, while a nonprofit firm contracted to run the program will pay the remainder through private grants, Brunner said. Brunner said that a program in Jersey City would probably cost more than one in Atlantic City because Jersey City is considerably larger.

According to a 2006 DHSS report, more than 6,000 people in Jersey City have HIV or AIDS. Of those, more than 2,400 - about 40 percent - contracted the virus from uncleaned needles, the report said.

This is a great idea, They should also incorporate it with a needle exchange program and free birth control measures.

HIV tests - knowing is strength
Thursday, June 28, 2007

By BERNETTE PEARSON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Lifelong Jersey City resident Romeo "Chico" Johnson, 44, was diagnosed with AIDS almost four years ago. He said he went through a deep depression after he found out, but now his main goal is to inform others of the importance of getting tested regularly.

"I want to be one of the examples," he said. "I am going to go around and let them know this is something serious and you don't want to play around with it."

Yesterday, Johnson and other Jersey City residents attended Jersey City's celebration of National HIV Testing Day, which provided free rapid testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The testing was conducted in the Hub parking lot on Martin Luther King Drive.

The first 105 people registered were given a $25 American Express gift certificate, sponsored by Power 105.1 FM, a New York hip-hop and R&B station.

Each person tested was provided with counseling while waiting for their results, said Michelle Espada, an HIV counselor, health educator and phlebologist for Jersey City's Center for Comprehensive Care.

The sponsors' goal was to get double the people already signed up tested, said Tom Cronin, administrative director for the Center of Comprehensive Care for Jersey City.

"If people don't get tested today it is okay," Cronin said. "We're more concerned about them knowing that free testing is available."

Mayor Jerramiah Healy visited the testing site. He said: "The first step in knowledge is to get tested."

Free confidential HIV testing is available all through the year at various health care centers, including Jersey City's Center for Comprehensive Care Center, at 953 Garfield Ave., Mondays and Wednesdays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.