A harm reduction clinic started earlier this year will now have office space in downtown Seymour.
The C.A.R.E.S. Clinic will open at 112 N. Chestnut St. when renovation of that building is complete after Jackson County Commissioners approved a lease for the building. It is the third health clinic to open downtown.
C.A.R.E.S. stands for Collaborative Advocacy, Referral & Educational Services.
The clinic is a division of the Jackson County Health Department and started in February. It serves 66 people.
The building will include a lobby, a confidential HIV and hepatitis C testing room, an employee break room, multiple offices and a common room for support groups.
“We’re super-happy to have space,” said clinic coordinator Christy Thrasher. “It’s going to be a lot easier having a space.”
Thrasher said she and volunteers have offered services and outreach by driving to people’s homes, attending church events and more. The space will allow a central location for services, she said.
“Having all of our supplies in one place is going to be great,” Thrasher said.
She said the clinic found the people it serves seemed to feel intimidated by going to the health department for care, even though the clinic operated outside business hours.
“If we had three people come in the after hours of the health department, that was a big night,” Thrasher said. “Many times, no one came.”
Free services available at the clinic include distribution and training on how to administer naloxone to a person overdosing on opioids; HIV and hepatitis C testing; referrals to agencies; programs to help battle drug addiction; and educational materials.
The clinic also makes available safer drug use supplies, including sterile water, tourniquets, cotton swabs and other materials used when injecting drugs. Syringes are not offered through the clinic, but the clinic has proper disposal bins at various locations, including the health department. A needle exchange would require approval from commissioners.
Participation in the clinic is anonymous, and the clinic is run mainly by volunteers who have had substance use issues in the past or who are family members of those who have.
Thrasher said harm reduction is an effective way to help stop the spread of disease such as HIV and hepatitis C, reduce the rate of infectious diseases and decrease overall drug use in a community.
“Our primary goal is to reduce the transmission of HIV or hepatitis C and help people be healthier,” she said. “We don’t want to have an HIV outbreak, and we already have a high number of hepatitis C here.”
Fifty-nine residents in Jackson County have been diagnosed with HIV as of 2017 when data was last available from the Indiana State Department of Health. That figure includes those who lived in other areas but have since moved to Jackson County. The county had less than five diagnoses in 2017, according to the same data.
The county has 74 cases of hepatitis C in 2017, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Providing services is important for reducing diagnoses, Thrasher said, but providing testing allows people to move forward with proper treatment.
“If I get tested and know my status, then I can act accordingly and prevent it from spreading to other people,” Thrasher said. “If I don’t test positive, I can learn ways of preventing that from happening.”
The issue is personal for her as she lost her husband, Jason, to an overdose in 2014.
“I have personal experience about how isolating it can be and scary,” she said, adding the clinic may offer support groups to family members affected. “This is also a safe space for people who have been impacted by this.”
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To contact C.A.R.E.S. Clinic for help or to volunteer:
Call or text: 812-498-8890
Email: [email protected]
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