Toddler needs months of medical tests after possibly being pricked by needle at Vancouver park

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A Vancouver mother feels as though she’s living a nightmare right now after she says her son may have been pricked by a needle at a Vancouver park.

Speaking through tears, Kate Kraumanis explains she and her three-and-a-half-year-old son were playing at Riley Park early on Sunday morning. She says he ran over to a nearby bench, which she hadn’t checked over, and says he picked up one of the needles.

Speaking w/a #Vancouver mother who wants Riley Park cleaned up after her 3 1/2 y-o son may have been pricked by a needle yest. morn. She says @VancouverPD responded and were compassionate. They temporarily shut down the playground area so a company could clean it. pic.twitter.com/OE2qlbO0Ci

— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) January 27, 2020

“There was a pile of needles and drug paraphernalia… and unfortunately, I couldn’t see which one it was and if he pricked himself. There was no blood but he’s a three-year-old boy so he’s always got scratches and nicks all over his hands and body. So, I called the non-emergency police line because I’ve called the needle hotlines before and they come anywhere from 30 minutes to the next day and I knew somebody else would get probably seriously injured and the police came, which were super professional and compassionate and helpful but were also in a ton of shock because of how many needles there were and they were buried in the sand as well.”

Kraumanis also called the BC Nurses hotline and it was suggested she take her son to BC Children’s Hospital, where she spent the rest of her Sunday.

“We have to blood work done for the next six to nine months just to be careful,” she explains through tears. “He’s low-risk for contracting anything but because he has little cuts and stuff all over his hands anyway, we can’t tell if the needled poked him or not. He’s three-and-a-half, so the first time you ask him, he says, ‘No nothing,’ hurt him and the second time you ask him, he says, ‘something poked him,’ so you can’t really tell.”

She says doctors at Children’s Hospital took some blood Sunday but they will have to continue going back. “In three weeks, six weeks, in three months, six months then nine months, I think. It’s just a precautionary measure but no one wants to see their child go through that. And there is a chance he contracted something, who knows? It’s disgusting.”

Kraumanis says she emailed the city and received a response back a couple of hours later saying the issue she had filed a complaint about had been resolved but she says she never heard from anyone at the city.

“I want to see [the city] hire people to go to the parks and go places and clean up after people. We focus so much on the addicts and giving them clean needles and giving them clean everything to do these drugs that I feel like they’ve forgotten about the public. They have a needles hotline of volunteers that go around and I just feel like that’s really, really unfair to, first of all, volunteers [who are] putting themselves at risk. If they want to give free needles and clean whatever… take care of it. If you’re going to build a playground, that’s lovely but I more or less have to walk by parks and tell my son, ‘No, you can’t go down that slide.’ They built it. It looks beautiful but it’s a parent’s worst nightmare to have their child pick up a needle.”

She says this isn’t the first time she has seen needles in the park but this is the first time her son has touched one. “I don’t think there are very many people in Vancouver who haven’t seen needles lying around.”
Vancouver Police confirm they did attend the park and temporarily closed the playground area while a needle pick-up company was brought in to clean things up.

“We never want to see any needles in any of our playgrounds or littered anywhere in the city,” says Sergeant Aaron Roed, VPD. “If anyone does see any needles that are littered around the city please call 311 to have them cleaned up,” says Vancouver Police Sergeant Aaron Roed.

Kraumanis wants other parents to be vigilant. “Check the whole park before you let your children play. I’m sure a lot of parents know that but we take it for granted and it… can happen in any neighbourhood. We don’t live in a bad neighbourhood. I think a lot of the focus goes on the Downtown Eastside and the downtown corridor. Most parents know not to take their kids to downtown parks because of how many needles there are but we live in a quieter, residential neighbourhood. I now have six to nine months waiting and low-risk or not, you don’t sleep the same when you’re waiting.”