AIDS Saskatoon wants to expand its needle pickup program by hiring a full-time staff member, dedicated to patrolling city streets for used needles.
Jason Mercredi, the executive director of the organization, said the full-time position would help take the load off of firefighters — who are currently designated to respond to needle pickups.
"We'd still need Fire to do the overnight pickups, but during the day, there's no need for Fire to go out and do those calls. We know they're happy to do it, but we'd like to take that off their hands," Mercredi said.
"We'd like to get the long-term contract to do permanent needle pickups in the city."
Currently, AIDS Saskatoon is contracted by the Saskatchewan Health Authority to scour neighbourhood and pick up used needles twice a week.
The Saskatoon Fire Chief said he supports Mercredi's idea of having more feet on the ground, patrolling for dirty needles.
"Even though our call volume is going up, if (AIDS Saskatoon) wasn't involved and a partner, our calls would have been even higher in 2018 and into 2019," Chief Morgan Hackl told CTV News.
Hackl said the fire department picked up 8,000 dirty needles last year.
