Bloody needle in park toilet

A local mother and nurse is sounding the alarm after she discovered several dirty, open needles in a Kelowna City Park bathroom. 

Jessica Emery was visiting City Park with her son Wednesday afternoon when she went to use the bathroom, and was disturbed with what she discovered in one the stalls.

“I looked down, right behind where I was just sitting, and there were three needles laying out,” says Emery.

“One was full of blood, there was blood all over the seat. There was a a crack pipe as well. It was awful, I was mortified.”

Emery says she had the expertise, as a nurse, to dispose of the needles herself, but she is concerned that someone else could have found them.

“Had that not been me, had that been a little girl that went in to use the bathroom,” says Emery.

“It is not the first time I have seen something like that, but it is the worst I have ever seen. The blood was actually around the needle.”

She said there were no caps on the needles and they posed a major risk to the public.

“I was horrified,” says Emery. “There was a ‘sharps’ container on the wall, but it was full of toilet paper so you couldn’t put anything in there anyways.”

City of Kelowna Park Services manager Ian Wilson says the city takes the issue of needles seriously in the community, and is working to ensure the safety of residents and tourists. 

“We’ve seen a large increase in needles, especially in the downtown area,” says Wilson.

“Unfortunately, a lot of communities throughout B.C. are seeing the same thing. Lots of needles, especially discarded needles are a bigger issue this year. We do have needle containers in the bathrooms, but unfortunately sometimes people don’t use them.”

Wilson says the city is avidly working with the Interior Health Authority to come up with some different solutions and strategies to combat the problem.

“We are putting out needle boxes where we can and trying to encourage their use,” says Wilson. “Unfortunately though, we can’t be there all the time, so people are finding some needles.”

He says the city has noticed an increased issue this year and they have, in turn, put in summer-level daily patrols of city washrooms early to combat the problem. 

“We started the increased patrols two weeks earlier this year because we wanted to make sure we were checking them more frequently,” says Wilson.

“They are basically checking the washrooms multiple times per day. In addition, the Downtown Kelowna Association is also checking them and emptying the needle boxes as well.”

“We are trying to do the best we can; it is an unfortunate incident. We ask people to be cautious, and please, let us know if they see issues.” 

As for Emery, she feels her experience this week highlights the crucial need for a safe-injection site in Kelowna.

“It is just really sad, they are going to do it regardless, but if there are places that they can have better access to ‘sharp’ containers and clean needles and what not,” says Wilson. 

“Tons of children are downtown every day and it was really concerning to find what I found.”

According to a recent poll by Castanet, which surveyed more than 6,300 people, 50.1 per cent of respondents don’t want a safe injection site in Kelowna, while 43 per cent think Kelowna should have a site.

Another 4.4 per cent said they weren’t sure, while 2.4 per cent simply did not care.