Months after a Bangor nonprofit received certification to provide sterile syringes to people who inject drugs, the organization is struggling to determine where it can operate with the city’s approval.
In March, the Maine CDC approved Needlepoint Sanctuary’s application to become a state certified mobile syringe service provider. Providers offer sterile syringes to protect people who inject drugs from contracting bloodborne diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C, from used or shared contaminated syringes.
The organization wanted to operate out of vehicles in Pierce Park next to the Bangor Public Library, in Pickering Square and at the intersection of Texas Avenue and University Drive, near the city’s largest homeless encampment. The city, however, opposed sterile needles being offered in the first two locations because they’re frequented by families.
Since then, Needlepoint Sanctuary has offered services only at the encampment behind the Hope House Health and Living Center.
Needlepoint Sanctuary’s services are needed now more than ever as the Maine CDC reported one new HIV case in Penobscot County, totaling six cases since late 2023. All six people were coinfected with hepatitis C, Hammes said. Penobscot County usually sees about two new cases each year.
In emails from March between Bangor City Manager Debbie Laurie and Maine CDC Director Puthiery Va that the Bangor Daily News obtained through a public records request, Laurie offered the Unitarian Universalist Church and the Together Place as alternative locations for Pierce Park and Pickering Square, respectively.
Amy Roeder, executive director of the Together Place, said she was unaware that her organization was offered as a potential site for Needlepoint Sanctuary.
Roeder said she had an informal conversation with someone from the nonprofit about the idea, but the Together Place’s executive board and members decided against it. Exposing people recovering from substance use disorder to drug injection supplies could be triggering, Roeder said.
Needlepoint Sanctuary leases administrative office space in the Unitarian Universalist Church and occasionally hosts training sessions that are open to the public, Rev. Andrew Moeller said on Thursday. It’s unclear whether the church would be open to allowing the nonprofit to offer syringe services there.
In a March 22 email to Laurie, Va said the Maine CDC is “optimistic that we can soon reach an agreement with the [Unitarian Universalist] church that will address the city’s concerns.”
Va also emphasized the importance of Needlepoint Sanctuary continuing to offer sterile syringes to mitigate the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.
“In such situations public health best practices, as spelled out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clearly call for a nimble, mobile response that maintains contact with people most at risk,” Va wrote to Laurie on March 22. “Right now, Needlepoint Sanctuary is the only partner equipped to do that work at Camp Hope.”
The Maine CDC, city and Needlepoint Sanctuary are still exploring alternative locations, said Lindsay Hammes, a spokesperson for the Maine CDC, on Thursday.
Hammes did not return requests for comment about what those alternative locations are.
William Hurley, executive director of Needlepoint Sanctuary, said there are no new developments in the search, but declined to comment further.
