A FAMILY stroll along the beach looking for shells and playing in the sand has been marred for a Port Macquarie family who pulled a used syringe from the shoreline just metres away from dozens of holidaymakers and young children.
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Shani and Jay Southwell were at Flynns Beach on Sunday with their own two children Zavier, 7 and Kaiden, 4 when they stumbled across the syringe, protruding from the waterline at the southern end of the beach with a long, but bent, needle dangerously hidden in the sand. Shani placed the syringe in a plastic cup and continued walking to adjoining Nobby’s Beach where she disposed of the syringe in a public bin.
“I know that is not the right place to put it but for us it was the safest thing to do. I didn’t want to be carrying it around or take it in the car to dispose of it somewhere – we just wanted to get rid of it,” Shani said.
In November, a child sustained a needle stick injury on Flynns Beach after discovering a syringe in the sand during a Nippers carnival. He was the second child taken to hospital for treatment and testing that month following a similar incident involving a 10-year-old child on Town Beach Beach.
This prompted calls for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council to install more syringe disposal units in the public amenities on local beaches.
There are sharps disposal containers in all council lifeguard towers and lifeguards are trained to handle sharps. While council says it does not have the resources to rake local beaches regularly, it does conduct sand sweeps during peak holiday periods and records where incorrectly disposed needles are found to identify problem areas.
NSW Community Health advice on sharps says there is a low risk of infection following a needle stick injury from blood borne diseases including HIV, hepatitis B and C.
Immediate action for a needle stick injury includes:
* Stay calm.
* Wash the area well with soap and running water.
* If blood contacts the skin, irrespective of whether there are cuts or abrasions, wash well with soap and water.
* If the eyes are contaminated, rinse the area gently with water or normal saline solution while the eyes are still open.
* If blood gets into the mouth, spit it out and then rinse the mouth with water several times.
* Pat dry the area around a skin penetration injury and apply a sterile adhesive dressing.
* Ensure the needle or syringe involved in the injury is safely collected in a secure container.
* Report the injury immediately. In all instances where the skin is penetrated or blood or body substances enters the body receive medical advice as soon as possible.
