On Friday evening, and after taking the temperature of their constituents on the issue, Grayson County Fiscal Court voted on whether to implement a Harm Reduction Program (aka needle exchange).
January 15 Fiscal Court meeting summation
At the Fiscal Court meeting on January 15, magistrates heard testimony from six doctors, including local physicians, Dr. Joseph Lee, Dr. Kenneth Green, Dr. Isaac Miller, Dr. Gay Fulkerson, and Dr. Bryce Meredith, who supported a needle exchange because such programs are credited with stopping the spread of disease (particularly HIV and Hepatitis C).
State Sen. Steve Meredith, Grayson County Health Department Director Mindy Renfrow, Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center Medical Stabilization Director Jessica Embry, Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center CEO Wayne Meriwether, and a former drug addict, Ashley McCarty-Duford, who now helps addicts enter treatment programs via needle exchanges around Kentucky, all spoke in favor of a needle exchange.
At that meeting, magistrates did not vote on whether to implement the program after Magistrate Darin Whitely made a motion that the county use the program for a 13-month period, and at that time reevaluate its effectiveness.
After what could be fairly characterized as a community backlash toward magistrates for not taking a vote, on Friday, Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson took full responsibility for the court failing to vote on the matter. Henderson also took issue with a poll in a local media outlet which used the word “coward” in asking readers to describe magistrates not taking a vote at the January 15 meeting.
“Whenever this was brought up at the last meeting, I knew it was going to be a tough decision,” Henderson said. “One thing I was really upset over at the last meeting (when) we didn’t have a second to a motion that was brought up, (and) I’m going to take, now, full responsibility for that. These magistrates are new (and) it’s my job to lead them in the direction we need to go … I get along with the news media very well. I’ve always had an open-door policy to them … but I was very disappointed in some of the things I read. One thing in particular that drew my attention was that (it was written that) the magistrates were cowards (for not voting on the issue) … I can assure you, I know all these men up here (and) … no one sitting behind any of these desks are cowards. They actually are outstanding individuals in my book … I just wanted to say, I understand that everybody wanted a vote. And like I said, I take full responsibility for that motion dying for lack of a second.”
Dr. Isaac Miller’s plea at Friday’s Fiscal Court meeting
On Friday, Dr. Miller again made an effort to convince the court to implement the program prior to magistrates voting on the matter, but not before telling the court he appreciates their collective thoughtfulness in studying the issue.
He began his remarks by saying, “I think it’s been a little unfair how you all have been characterized as being indecisive about this. From my point of view, (and in) talking to you, you are just trying to do what’s right. And I appreciate that … I commend you for your thoughtfulness and sincerity (in) approaching this topic. And it’s a tough topic, there’s no doubt about that.”
Dr. Miller then said that, essentially, every major medical organization around the globe supports needle exchange programs because of its effectiveness stopping the spread of disease.
“Who supports this program?” Dr. Miller rhetorically asked. “The medical field, as a whole, supports this program. On the international level, the World Health Organization, who has taken studies from all around the world; Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, the United States, and they came away supporting this program. On the national level, the Center for Disease Control, Institute of Medicine, the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Health, and the U.S. Surgeon General … all support this program.
“You go to the state level, the Kentucky Department of Public Health came to our county; we didn’t ask them for this, they came to our county and said, ‘You all have a problem that you need to fix.’ And that’s when all this started. And they even got to the point where they are developing a task force to go to the counties that are high risk; us (Grayson County) being one of them, Breckinridge County being one of them, Edmonson County being one of them; we’re like a little island in the state, trying to implement these programs in counties like ours.
“Then on the local level, Grayson County Board of Health unanimously voted this in … the Twin Lakes Medical Executive Committee, who represents the doctors who work at Twin Lake Regional Medical Center, they support this program. The Twin Lakes Medical Foundation, which is the body that administrates all of the outpatient’s offices, and doctors and nurses, and staff, physicians and nurse practitioners, they support this program. CEO of Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center Wayne Meriwether, who came here and spoke to you all last month, supports this program.
“And you have physicians who have come forward, myself, Dr. Bryce Meredith, Dr. Ken Green, Dr. Joe Lee, Dr. Gay Fulkerson, and the one thing I notice about all five of those people is we’re all five from Grayson County. This isn’t some doctor from Louisville or some doctor from Lexington telling us (what we should do). These are all hometown people that have been a part of the community from the beginning. And we all support this program.
“Politically, on the national level, the U.S. federal government supports this program. They even give funding to try and help implement it. It’s bipartisan; former Democratic president Barack Obama supported this program during his administration; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (a Republican) … supports this program. On a state level, Steve Meredith, a state Senator, and a Republican, came before this court in support of this program, and locally, the Leitchfield City Council unanimously supported this program.
“And also law enforcement, the U.S. Department of Justice supports this program … on a local level, this past week, many of you met with local officers from Jessamine County, who have had this program in place for the last two years … They asked to do this, we didn’t ask them, they took a day out of their time, driving, to come speak to us because they know this program worked in their county and they felt strongly enough that it would work in our county.
“From the federal to the local level, law enforcement is behind this. So in summary, that’s a lot of people. You have international support, you have federal support, you have bipartisan state level/local level, you have health officials, you have politicians, you have physicians, you have law enforcement, you have government departments. All of these people support this program. So why is that? Because it works.”
Dr. Miller then said after evaluating 17 needle exchange program case studies conducted between 1991 and 2003, they all came to the same conclusion, “And that is that needle exchange programs reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C without increasing drug abuse … So, as you all are about to decide on this topic; all of these people support this for a reason. We’ve come before you tonight to ask you to help this community that’s sick, because we feel that this program is a good way to start. But time is of the essence on this decision.”
Votes trump what magistrates believe is best for the county?
“I made the motion last meeting, because I’m for the program; still for the program” Magistrate Darin Whitley said before the court voted on the matter. “The problem is, I’ve had 58 people in my district recently tell me that they were supporting me getting elected, but they are not for it (a needle exchange). The problem here is, we still need to get the public educated on it, (so) they will support us. They said, ‘we elected you and put you in office and we want you to be a voice for us.’ And that’s what I have to do tonight.”
Asked for comment, Magistrate Tommy Higdon expressed essentially the same thoughts as Whitely.
“I kinda got the same thing; I did the same thing,” Hidgon said. “I went out three days this week. Had lunch at one spot, spent almost two hours. Had breakfast at one spot, in my district, spent almost the same amount of time. I didn’t have as many people as (Whitley) did, but out of 37 people I had one person say ‘yes,’ I had two people that didn’t have a clue what I was even talking about, and I had a couple of people that just (couldn’t) say either way. Regardless how this goes tonight … this county is not educated on this. This county has to be educated, like you guys have us (educated) … I don’t know the answer to educate them, but they have to be educated. And that’s where the issue is with the county; they don’t know, they don’t have a clue. But in order for those people out in my district, they are going to have to be educated. I don’t know how to get them educated, but I’m open (to suggestions).
Robbie Higdon chose not to speak on the issue prior to voting, and Magistrates Damon Hornback, Brian Ashley and Neal Saltsman essentially concurred with Whitely and Tommy Higdon’s remarks.
A vote was then taken, with all six magistrates voting to not to implement a needle exchange in Grayson County.
After the vote was taken, Dr. Miller warned the court, “Once an outbreak happens, these programs don’t work as well. So if in the next year, if there’s an outbreak before we educate the community, it may be too late. That’s one of the things I’ve tried to express to you all is that these programs are not as effective in the middle of an outbreak, and so if we wait until there’s an outbreak (to approve the program), the cats out of the bag. And that’s partly why we’ve pushed you all a little hard. There is a time factor. We can’t just say well, we’ll get to it in two years or three years.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
