Susie Huerta sits in the driver's seat of a Pima County Health Department bus while a man counts out more than 100 used needles he is finished with.
"Hold them up so I can count them," Huerta says, but this man knows the drill. His syringes are bundled in tens, and he holds up each bundle so she can count them before he drops them in the medical waste container in front of him.
Two plastic bins full of syringes rest on seats in the back of the bus. Miguel Soto counts the correct number of clean needles from these bins, drops them in a brown paper bag and hands them to the man.
"You need anything else?" Soto asks.
This is a common scene for Huerta and Soto, who operate the LifePoint syringe exchange program from the Theresa Lee STD/HIV Clinic.
They usually have 30 to 65 people exchange syringes every Tuesday and Friday, said Soto, the program coordinator.
Even on slow days they see at least 30 people, he said.
The LifePoint syringe exchange has been operating for about 12 years and is funded through the Pima County Health Department. The needle exchange is operated out of a Pima County Health Department bus which stops at two locations every Tuesday and Friday.
The program is the only state-funded needle exchange in Arizona.
Two different syringe sizes are offered at the needle exchange: 1/2 cc and 1 cc. Both sizes come with a 28-gauge needle. What size syringe people prefer usually depends on what drug they use, Soto said.
In addition to syringes, the program provides bandages, cotton, alcohol swabs, tourniquets and drug cookers.
The exchange is one-for-one, which means the number of used syringes someone brings for disposal is equal to the number of new syringes they take away. They exchange almost 200,000 needles annually.
In addition to the syringe exchange, employees from COPE Community Services offer outreach services at each site.
This includes "risk reduction services," such as condoms and kits with bleach, alcohol swabs, cotton, gauze and bandages, among other supplies, said Brian Arbizo, a COPE employee.
COPE outreach also focuses on harm reduction, offering references to community services for STD/HIV testing.
One of the primary focuses is HIV testing, said Celeste Canchola, another COPE employee.
COPE is not there to force treatment on clients, but rather to provide a combination of behavioral health services and treatment references.
"We never want to force them to get into treatment," Arbizo said.
This is also the goal of the needle exchange program. They try to reduce possible harm a drug addict can inflict on themselves and others, Soto said. The employees of the program aren't there to judge the people who come to them for syringes.
"You can only do so much," Soto said. "It's up to them what they want to do."
Huerta and Soto, who have been working the needle exchange for three and eight years respectively, said they see many regular clients at the needle exchange. Clients range in age from 18 to the late 70s. These people are mainly meth, heroin or speed addicts, Soto said.
Addiction can be multi-generational and sometimes they'll see parents coming for their children or spouses coming in place of one another, he said.
"It's sad to see when young kids come," Huerta said. "A month or two later you can see how the drug has affected them."
For the most part, clients are friendly, sometimes staying to chat or ask for advice and many of them are familiar with Soto and Huerta.
"I'm on this bus so much it's kind of like a second home," Soto said.
