Scott Elliot is the CEO of Dr. Peter Centre Vancouver that provides complex care for HIV positive patients. Dr. Peter Centre (drpeter.org) For some reason he thrived at the naughty table. Thanks Sam for making it bearable.
Scott started with a quote about kindness, justice, and charity. The gist of which was kindness is the basis of both justice and charity. Kindness, justice, and charity should lead to all having the right to live in dignity.
The Centre deals with drug issues, mental illness, HIV, and death. Compared to the rest of the world, overdose death is really bad in North America and Vancouver has the worst overdose death in the World. The Dr. Peter Centre is the epicentre of the overdose issue, and Scott is talking dead people. Overdose deaths are considered unexpected deaths. In B.C. there are seven unexpected deaths a day. Fentanyl is a good drug and is in all of the drugs that are bought on the street. The problem is administration is not controlled, a user might not be used to it, and they do not know exactly what they are taking. Most addicts want fentanyl because it is stronger than heroin, but they donât know what they are getting.
The Centre is living at the intersection of science and compassion. Most people do not have a good relationship with their Dr. because the relationship is transactional. If you are indigenous and female and in pain you will not get pain medication if you go to the hospital.
He showed us a Video about a patient at the Dr. Peter Centre. It demonstrated the Centre as a safe, respectful, and non-judgmental place.
In the beginning AIDS was made a moral issue. Now if an individual is HIV positive they can take medication and it is undetectable and cannot be passed on.
The Centre is a licenced care facility dealing with complex cases open 24 hours and has 25,000 health care visits per year. The people they treat are welcome at the centre, but their clients are the people most people avoid on the street.
Dr. Peter was an MD who got sick and was told he had aids and was going to die. Did not die but did go blind. He was also an extrovert. He created the Dr. Peter Diary, a weekly show on CBC for two years. It captured the imagination and informed people about AIDS. As he was dying he asked his friends and colleagues to create a clinical space where those who were HIV positive would be treated with compassion and stigma free.
HIV was in the gay community but also the drug use community and the highest HIV rates are in North America. The Centre treats mental illness, intravenous drug use, addiction issues and chaotic life. It had the first supervised injection site on the continent.
The Centre currently has 500 people in day program and serves 70,000 meals a year. An injection drug user can bring in their own drugs. They also provide recreation therapy and music therapy.
The Centre meets people where they are at and accepts them for the unique people they are. There is no judgment so they can help people with their issues. They use the term Opioid use disorder and not junky. The plan is to tend the soul to heal the body.
Most of the clients are male but there are women but they can be intimidated in the male context but the Centre has set up women only evenings. A lot of clients are indigenous and the clinic provides a stigma free environment for them and have started doing indigenous ceremonial activities.
The medical community is western scientific but before medication the basic needs of food and shelter must be met. Once the clients have the medication then the staff can work on the soul.
The Centre uses evidence based compassion and effective treatment options reduce the risk of overdose and death. They are not trying to get clients off drugs but will meet them where they are, with food, shelter, and a safe place to get them to have the capacity to make a choice.
Love is harm reduction. Supervised injection sites are harm reduction. Care and respect is harm reduction. Scott was very frank that no one knows what the solution is but the Centre solution is to try to keep people alive. We have spent a lot of money but the problem keeps getting worse.
99% of the clients are HIV positive. The Centre is funded by the government for 350 and they self fund for the next 150. Clients are referred by social workers or doctors. The clients have to prove they have HIV and all of them have a doctor. The Centre has excellent medical doctors because they have the best programs in the world.
hah I bet they do. She is gone for two weeks on a cruise on the St Lawrence with family and cousins from Amsterdam. Her son, Keenanâs wedding celebration will be at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery after the wedding at home in July.
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