Doctor apologizes for rush to open needle exchange. He feared a public health ‘disaster’

Kennewick isn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat for a syringe exchange set to open Friday.

But city officials indicated Tuesday they will collaborate with the doctor-backed team that’s relocating a controversial exchange from Pasco to a modest building near Vista Way and Highway 395.

It wasn’t the welcome Dr. Jeff Allgaier, founder and president of Kennewick-based Ideal Option, expected.

He’d raced to save the exchange when he learned it was being evicted by the Franklin County Commission in February. He seemed surprised this week when his new neighbors complained about the program and the short notice given about it opening.

Allgaier and Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, a Walla Walla nonprofit focused on harm reduction, announced Monday the exchange will open this week at 2628 W. Bruneau Place.

It will operate 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays with an off-duty police officer and other security measures, including surveillance cameras.

Apology at Kennewick council

Chastened by complaints he didn’t do enough to alert neighbors, Allgaier apologized Tuesday, when a routine Kennewick City Council meeting turned into a forum about the unexpected — unwelcome by some — newcomer.

“Frankly, we did not do a very good job in the way we notified people,” Allgaier admitted to a 100-plus crowd.

The Kennewick exchange will open as planned. However, he pledged to open two to three additional Tri-City exchanges to dilute the impact on the Vista Way neighborhood.

“We want to bring the community together, not cause extra divisiveness,” he said.

Allgaier said he went into “recon mode” when he learned Blue Mountain would soon be homeless.

Its Pasco exchange distributed nearly 20,000 syringes a month in the Tri-Cities. Letting the only exchange in the Tri-Cities lapse would have been a public health “disaster,” he said.

Allgaier and his partner, Dr. Ken Egli, zeroed in on a former clinic on Bruneau. They paid $145,000 in a deal that closed in just six days.

He and Elgi personally funded the purchase and own the property as Incident 8 LLC.

They will lease space to Blue Mountain and use the rest to house physicians and counselors to treat drug addicts.

About a third of the roughly 30 people who spoke at the council meeting work for Allgaier’s company or are clients who shared heartwarming stories of recovery and the need for compassion and support.

The rest were Tri-Citians who shared mixed views about the exchange and its new location.

Public health benefits

Few dispute the public health benefits.

Exchanging dirty needles for clean ones reduces the number of discarded syringes off streets, where they’re a threat to the public. Clean needles reduce the transmission of blood-borne diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C.

Users who patronize exchange are five times more likely to seek treatment for opioid addiction and 3.5 times more likely to cease injecting than those who don’t, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

In Pasco, Blue Mountain handed out free doses of Narcan, the overdose reversal drug credited with saving lives.

Everett Maroon, executive director, said its doses were used to reverse overdoses 98 times in 2018. The exchange said it served about 330 Tri-Citians in its 10 months, providing clean syringes in packages of 10 along with condoms and other health supplies.

Local health officials uniformly encouraged Kennewick to approach the charged topic with compassion.

Rick Dawson of the Benton-Franklin Health District, Wes Luckey of Greater Columbia Accountable Community of Health, and Kirk Williamson of the Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance said exchanges are key partners in the fight against opioid addiction.

Ideal Option is growing

Allgaier and his partners are medical doctors and certified in both emergency medicine and addiction.

They formed Ideal Option in Kennewick seven years ago to provide scientifically sound, medication-based treatment to drug addicts.

The company is on a growth streak after an investment by Varsity Healthcare Partners, a Los Angeles private equity firm that’s placing $300 million in healthcare companies.

The investment is fueling expansion, Varsity said in an October news release.

Terms of the investment, including the amount and Varsity’s ownership stake, were not disclosed.

More recently, Ideal partnered with Kadlec Regional Medical Center and the Benton and Franklin county sheriffs to secure a $2 million federal grant. The money is funding sites at Kadlec and the jails where addicts can start treatment.

It has 64 locations in 11 states, including offices in Kennewick and Pasco.

Allgaier said Blue Mountain will pay nominal rent. He expects to lose money supporting the exchange.

He said he and his partners couldn’t stand on the sidelines once they saw the syringe exchange forced out of Pasco.

“We understand this is a very polarizing issue,” he said. “As physicians, it’s our duty to do everything we can.”

Homeless camping issue

But Vista Way is a sensitive neighborhood.

The area was overwhelmed by homeless camping about two years ago when a local church allowed nonprofits to establish a soup kitchen and use the building and its grounds as an informal campground.

Business fled, saying unruly campers were menacing staff and customers and leaving drug and human waste outside their businesses.

Today, the encampment is gone. A city ordinance bars people from camping on sidewalks and police patrol the area. But memories of what one former tenant called a “hot mess” remain.

Roland Jankelson, whose family owns Angus Village housing more than 40 businesses and offices in the Vista Way area, has hired an attorney, anticipating tenants leaving.

“There are serious legal questions about the process the city has engaged with here,” he said.

The owner of a dance studio catering to young children said news of the exchange spread quickly. She’s received cancellations and an instructor has given notice to quit.

Young moms won’t feel safe bringing toddlers and infants to a neighborhood that needs its own police officers, said Wendy Robbins, who renewed her lease on Vista Way on the strength of the neighborhood turnaround.

Hope & Family Social Services provides supervised visits between noncustodial parents and children in a building next to the proposed needle exchange.

Vickie Roeder, visitation coordinator, said a uniformed police officer next door could scare off arriving parents. Missed appointments can weaken their cases to regain custody.

Even a representative from the church at the center of the homeless camp crisis expressed reservations.

Tobaski Snipes directs A New Start In Life at River of Life Metropolitan Community Church, a block away. His nonprofit helps homeless young adults get back on their feet.

Snipes has played a key role in keeping drug dealers and campers at bay. Vista Way is a “terrible” spot for a syringe exchange if it ends up bringing trouble back to the neighborhood, he said.

City’s hands tied

Lisa Beaton, Kennewick’s attorney, said there’s nothing the city can do to stop Ideal Option and Blue Mountain from launching the syringe exchange this week.

The clinic is an allowed in the community commercial zone. The building itself is a former clinic and doesn’t need updates that would require a permit from the city or inspections by code enforcement or the fire department.

The Washington State Supreme Court confirmed the legality of syringe exchanges in 1992.

Ideal Option is a private business and already has a license from the city. Blue Mountain’s nonprofit status exempts it from that requirement.

Tuesday’s meeting offered the city’s elected leaders a chance to share their thoughts on the exchange.

Mayor Pro Tem Steve Lee said he lives about 250 feet from the exchange site. He also owns Green2Go, a cannabis retail business, in Finley.

Lee said he understands the challenge of running a business people don’t want in their back yards. But he said he supports Blue Mountain’s mission to reduce harm.

He said he doesn’t see any reason why the exchange would stop the efforts to clean up the Vista Way area.

Mayor Don Britain, a manager with the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, reaffirmed he’s disappointed by the move, but pledged to be a good partner.

Councilman Chuck Torelli, newly appointed to the city council, thanked Allgaier for his apology. “I agree with you. You jumped way before you looked,” he said.

Councilman John Trumbo was heartened by the passionate testimony but shared his concerns about enabling drug users.

“I have a deep concern for the neighboring businesses,” Trumbo said.

Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg praised Allgaier and his team for beefing up security at his suggestion.

Allgaier donated gift cards to the police department so officers can provide food and other support to people who need help.

“The doctor has been very, very good to work with,” Hohenberg told the council.

This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 5:41 PM.