Copyright 2000 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
March 22, 2000 Wednesday FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8B
LENGTH: 506 words
HEADLINE:
Milwaukee County health care workers likely to be supplied with safer needles
BYLINE: KAWANZA GRIFFIN of the Journal Sentinel staff
BODY:
Health care workers in Milwaukee County will
use safer needles to protect themselves and others from
needle-stick injuries under a policy the County Board's Health
and Human Needs Committee has endorsed unanimously. Approval this week by the
full County Board is considered likely.
The health committee vote last
week came after emotional testimony by Ann McCormick, a registered nurse who
described how in 1992 she accidentally stuck herself while she was trying to
recap a needle. McCormick told the committee about the mental anguish of having
to wait one year before final testing confirmed she was disease-free. Workers
injured by needles can be exposed to blood- borne pathogens such as HIV and
hepatitis B and C.
She said that having safer needles, which have been
available for over 10 years, could have prevented her injury.
Each year
600,000 to 800,000 health workers suffer needle-sticks, mostly nurses -- but
also doctors, laboratory staff members and other workers.
The policy
proposed to the County Board follows a recommendation by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health last November.
The agency encouraged employers to adopt strategic
measures to protect health care workers from job-related injuries caused by
needles in syringes, intravenous delivery systems and related medical devices.
According to the American Nurses Association, only 15% of hospitals use safer
needles.
Roger Kraig, political director for Service Employees
International Union Wisconsin State Council, demonstrated a retractable syringe.
The device works like a pen, and can be clicked a second time to retract
the needle inside its plastic covering before it's removed from the patient.
Supervisor Mark A. Borkowski was concerned about the cost for the county
if the policy was approved. A standard blood-collection needle, for example,
costs about 6 cents, while a safer version costs about 25 cents.
However, he was assured by Kraig that the overall cost would be much
less than the cost to care for an injured worker.
A recent insurance
study indicated that a worker's compensation claim would cost about
$500,000, Kraig said.
Supervisor Roger Quindel, sponsor
of the resolution, said that doing something as simple as buying safer needles
was a "modest step" that could help health care workers and that it should be
done now while the cost was reasonable.
But cost should not be an issue,
said Candice Owley, president of the Federation of Nurses and Health
Professionals.
"It's a major improvement if we can find ways to
eliminate needle-sticks," she said. "Of course if we save money it's good, but
it's more important to save people from pain and suffering and to save lives."
The full County Board will consider the measure Thursday. Other
committee members who supported the policy include Supervisors Sheila Aldrich,
Kathleen Arciszewski, Elizabeth Coggs-Jones, Terrance J. Herron, Robert Krug,
Jim McGuigan, Jim Schmitt and James White.
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May 16, 2000