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The Monroe County Health Department will use a grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis and AIDS United to help fund its syringe exchange program.
file photoBLOOMINGTON -- The Monroe County Health Department will use a grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis and AIDS United to help fund its syringe exchange program.
The county’s program will be primarily mobile, traveling to different locations every month.
The nonprofit organization Indiana Recovery Alliance will administer the exchange and will use a $15,000 grant awarded to Monroe County to help cover its costs.
“It will go to Indiana Recovery Alliance to help offset expenses for insurance, for gas, for vehicle maintenance and some supplies,” says Penny Caudill, Monroe County Health Department Administrator.
The county hasn’t allocated any money in its budget for the exchange and no state funding is tied to the program. Indiana Recovery Alliance is staffed mostly by volunteers.
Although Monroe County’s exchange has received the state health commissioner’s stamp of approval, Caudill says she doesn’t know how long it will take to obtain the insurance required to start the program.
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