1. Declare Public Health Emergency
Mayor Goodwin could declare a public health emergency, as requested by over 30 community groups this past June. Charleston and its surrounding county is home to the “most concerning” HIV outbreak in the country (according to the CDC) and leads the state in overdose deaths (#1 of 55 counties). The City of Charleston and Mayor Goodwin have never addressed the city’s HIV outbreak on their respective facebook pages (compare and contrast with COVID-19). An emergency declaration would mobilize urgency, resources and goodwill.
2. Support & Encourage Re-Opening of Daily Drop-In Centers
City Council and the Mayor’s Office should do everything they can to support and encourage service providers to re-open daily drop-in centers on Smith St and/or Shrewsbury St, and to open other drop-in centers across the city. At the very least, these centers should offer daily access to showers, laundry, respite from the weather, and social services. Currently, there is no 5 day-a-week (let alone 7 day a week) drop-in center available to Charleston residents, and the latest former accessible center on Smith St is now shut down with a fence around it.
3. Raise the Temperature for Opening its Warming Centers
The Mayor’s Office with support from City Council should raise the temperature for opening its warming centers. The current temperature set by the Mayor’s Office is 15 degrees – if its higher, the warming center doesn’t open. This means the warming center is only opened a handful of times through any given winter, with many cold nights with nowhere to go. Huntington’s emergency overnight shelter opens when it’s 40 degrees. We can do better.
4. Urge Kanawha Health Dept to Re-Launch Syringe Services
Urge the Kanawha Charleston Health Department to follow the lead of Cabell County and other counties by re-launching its syringe service program. While the Mayor and 24 City Councilors criminalized best practice harm reduction programs in April 2021, a limited public program would still be better than the current landscape. The Mayor and City Council should also convene CAMC and Thomas and other local healthcare providers to launch similar harm reduction programs to create a more distributed array of services, as recommended by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report in March 2021.
5. Decriminalize Best Practice Harm Reduction Programs
Speaking of decriminalization, the City of Charleston should immediately decriminalize best practice harm reduction programs. The City of Charleston is the ONLY city in West Virginia to make it a misdemeanor to listen to CDC best practices when it comes to running a syringe service program (in the midst of an HIV crisis no less). In the end, harm reduction was criminalized at a single council meeting (which admittedly ran late into the night), it can be undone with another meeting.
6. Set Up Syringe Disposal Boxes Across the City
City Council and the Mayor’s Office could set up a dozen syringe disposal boxes across the city – as recommended by the August 2021 CDC report that was tailor written for Charleston and Kanawha County. This is doable now, and we’ve been requesting it for close to three years. SOAR has set up one box already and is planning on setting up more.
7. Equip Public City Buildings with Naloxone & Train All City Employees
Equip and train every city employee and every public city building with Narcan and signs or boxes (see naloxbox.org) which advertise its availability. The City of Charleston is welcome to use the “We Carry Naloxone” stickers which dozens of local businesses, churches, nonprofits, and cars already proudly wear on their windows and bumpers.
8. Implement an Overdose and HIV Task Force
Convene a city-specific “Overdose and HIV Task Force” with the goal of drafting a robust evidence-based plan to reach overdose zero and zero HIV detectable cases by 2030. Ensure this group has at least 1/3 representation from people who currently use drugs, the frontline experts on the crisis. Ensure transparency, clear values, broad input, and an action plan and budget to see this plan all the way through. Even before this taskforce is launched, the City ought to publish monthly data on EMS overdose calls including zip code level data and any other data that can help illuminate the current crisis and opportunities to address gaps.
9. PSA to City Residents “No Prescription Needed For Naloxone”
Mail every resident a postcard alerting them that they do not need a prescription to pick up Narcan at their local pharmacy. SOAR has been hand-delivering these postcards for close to 3 years – people are amazed by this simple bit of news. Doing a full city mailing would mean far more neighbors would acquire and carry this life-saving medicine.
10. Collaborate with Local Groups to Support Marginalized Communities
There are dozens upon dozens of community groups and faith-based groups working to support these vulnerable members of our community from Charleston’s West Side to East End, from Kanawha City to downtown to South Hills to North Charleston. The City of Charleston should lift up these solutions and look for ways to partner up and add resources whenever possible. We have everything we need to collaborate and be a beacon of solutions for the Mountain State.