Child pricked by needle in North End park, just steps away from school
"Out there every night people are doing heroin, all night people are selling heroin."
An elementary school student was pricked by a hypodermic needle after school hours last week at a popular North End park, according to officials.
The Eliot School student, who has not been identified, came in contact with the needle at the Paul Revere Mall — also known as “The Prado” — which is just a stone’s throw away from the school, a Boston Public School spokesman confirmed to Boston.com Monday.
The needle was discarded in a flower planter, Boston 25 News reports. The student was slated to undergo a series of tests to determine if he or she came in contact with any illnesses as a result, the news station said.
“While this incident did not occur during school hours or on school property, we will provide any support necessary for our student,” BPS spokesman Dan O’Brien said in an emailed statement.
The danger discarded needles pose on the streets of Boston amid the opioid crisis has become a regular fear for parents and children especially.
Drug use is common at the North End mall off Hanover Street along the Freedom Trail, which serves as a destination for local families and tourists alike, according to neighbors.
“Out there every night people are doing heroin, all night people are selling heroin,” an anonymous neighbor told Boston 25 News. “People are living out there and nothing’s being done about it.”
In a statement to the news station, Mayor Marty Walsh said “it is completely unacceptable for young children in the City of Boston to be exposed to needles of any kind, particularly while they are at school.”
“We have taken steps to protect our students from the harm of the opioid epidemic by increasing the capacity of the Mobile Sharps Unit, prioritizing substance use eduction and prevention, and training staff on how to properly dispose of any encountered needle,” Walsh said.
According to O’Brien, students at the Eliot School are taught to follow “Stop, Turn, and Tell” if they find a needle and are told to not pick it up.
“We are in constant communication with the City of Boston, including the Boston Police Department, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, and the Mayor’s Office, to both inform them of our concerns while also receiving information about the work these agencies are doing to decrease the number of discarded needles in city parks and other public areas,” O’Brien said. “In addition to police patrols to deter drug use, BPHC’s Mobile Sharps Unit regularly sweeps public parks to remove any discarded needles they may find.”
Last November, a student at Orchard Gardens Pilot School in Roxbury was pricked by a used syringe during recess.
Parents mobilized in the wake of the incident. Two needle disposal kiosks were installed, and a fence along Melnea Cass Boulevard near the school was in the works this summer.
