BC Lags Behind Other Provinces in Life Satisfaction

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Wait, you're saying CBC is also reporting on a falsehood? That the Northern Health Region didn't write that memo and distribute it to hospital staff last July? Or that the Province is lying in their acknowledgement of the memo and their response to it? Or that it's some kind of conspiracy by the main stream media? I am not sure I understand.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...memo-1.7163121

EDIT: I don't know much about "BC United" and your distrust of them but they could be the literal devil AND they could still have leaked a real and stupid memo with really stupid policies that the public should know about. Both can be true at the same time.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing that links this to decrim other than BC United's hysterics.

Neither CBC nor the NP have provided a copy of the memo, so there's no way to verify if it came from the hospital, HA, MoH, or MMHA. Don't you think it's a bit hasty to blame the sitting government without knowing where it came from, especially considering the HAs are semi-autonomous bodies?

Furthermore, the advice seems to be based on best practices regarding safety and legal liabilities, that again, are not related to decrim.

[chemgear]

CBC and various news outlets have seen the leak and it's published out there and not hard to find.

https://www.bcunitedcaucus.ca/wp-con...hospitals-1642

Unless you're saying that there is some kind of a vast conspiracy with the mainstream media here. And again if you're concerned about some conspiracy that the memo is hosted at that site, the government and hospital hasn't objected that it is somehow false. In fact, CBC says specifically they acknowledged it . . . "A Ministry of Health spokesperson said in a statement that the policy outlined in the memo has since been superseded" after the public found about the memo.

As for relating to decriminalization, CBC notes "It came a few months after the possession of small amounts of certain drugs were decriminalized in the province under a three-year pilot project."

Additionally, the memo literally points to decriminalization specifically right at the start as a the reason for the change in policy:


Therefore, under direction from Risk Management and Professional Practice:

Possession of a substance of 2.5 g of substance is no longer an offence and a new CPS related to this is going to be published within the next month or so it’s in final stages. With decriminalization of possession of drugs/substances (small amounts for personal use), staff should not be searching a patient’s personal belongings and taking away, or holding onto their substances. These can remain with the patient.

Staff DO NOT remove personal items from the patient’s room, even if there is a knife or something considered as a weapon under 4” long. We use our best professional judgement on this and risk of violence factors.

Staff Do not call RCMP to go through personal items for a patient and do not call security to do the same Police are only called for gunshot wounds and stabbings and related concerns.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by chemgear

CBC and various news outlets have seen the leak and it's published out there and not hard to find.

https://www.bcunitedcaucus.ca/wp-con...hospitals-1642

Unless you're saying that there is some kind of a vast conspiracy with the mainstream media here. And again if you're concerned about some conspiracy that the memo is hosted at that site, the government and hospital hasn't objected that it is somehow false. In fact, CBC says specifically they acknowledged it . . . "A Ministry of Health spokesperson said in a statement that the policy outlined in the memo has since been superseded" after the public found about the memo.

As for relating to decriminalization, CBC notes "It came a few months after the possession of small amounts of certain drugs were decriminalized in the province under a three-year pilot project."

Additionally, the memo literally points to decriminalization specifically right at the start as a the reason for the change in policy:


Therefore, under direction from Risk Management and Professional Practice:

Possession of a substance of 2.5 g of substance is no longer an offence and a new CPS related to this is going to be published within the next month or so it’s in final stages. With decriminalization of possession of drugs/substances (small amounts for personal use), staff should not be searching a patient’s personal belongings and taking away, or holding onto their substances. These can remain with the patient.

Staff DO NOT remove personal items from the patient’s room, even if there is a knife or something considered as a weapon under 4” long. We use our best professional judgement on this and risk of violence factors.

Staff Do not call RCMP to go through personal items for a patient and do not call security to do the same Police are only called for gunshot wounds and stabbings and related concerns.

Thanks. I looked and couldn't find it.

As I suspected, it came from Northern Health Authority. It looks to me like some numb nuts at the HA conflated security/safety and illegal search concerns with decrim.

I wasn't saying there was a conspiracy by the mainstream media. It is shoddy reporting though, IMO.

There are 5 HAs (Island, Vancouver Coastal, Fraser, Interior, and Northern). They all have mandates from MoH and MMHA, but they are largely autonomous in how they apply those mandates and manage operations. The fact that this memo was only distributed my one HA tells me that it was likely a misunderstanding of policy/legislation by staff at HA.

So to my previous point, this doesn't look to be a policy drummed up and distributed by central bureaucrats or the sitting government, which makes the BCU's theatrics more than a little disingenuous. But hey, that's showbiz, baby.

I probably shouldn't #### on Northern HA too much. They have one of the hardest regions to run, and it's very hard for them to get qualified staff due to how remote they are.

[Zevo]

This memo is much ado about nothing as far as the BC NDP are involved. As Rudecube mentioned it is a HA initiated memo.

I've not been a fan of the BC NDP lately but they are still miles(kilometers) better than the BC United. Can't stand Kevin Falcon and in my opinion they are as slimy as they were under Gordon Campbell as the BC Liberals when Falcon was a cabinet minister.

The histrionics of Bond during question period trying to pin this on the sitting government when they know damn well it came from the NHA is so on point for 'the party formerly known as BC Liberals'.

They remind me of a dime store version of the UCP under Smith.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Zevo

The histrionics of Bond during question period trying to pin this on the sitting government when they know damn well it came from the NHA is so on point for 'the party formerly known as BC Liberals'.

Both her and Sturko are some of the worst performative politicians in the history of the province.

[chemgear]

Additional news since about various BC hospitals (not just one HA) since the memo leak to the public.


https://nationalpost.com/opinion/wev...source=twitter

'We've absolutely lost control' to drug users, desperate B.C. hospital nurses say

Health-care workers report rampant open drug use, weapons and violence in wake of drug decriminalization

Open drug use, weapons and violence are ubiquitous in B.C. hospitals, jeopardizing the safety of both patients and front-line health workers, nurses say. But the provincial government is playing down the problem, if not outright denying its existence, despite the disturbing stories that have been shared over the past few days.

However, his statement was immediately contradicted by the B.C. Nurses Union, whose president, Adriane Gear, told several media outlets that open drug use and weapons have become “a widespread issue of significant magnitude,” and that these problems spiked after drugs were decriminalized in the province last year. “Before there would be behaviours that just wouldn’t be tolerated, whereas now because of decriminalization, it is being tolerated,” she said.

Laura Martin, a Victoria General Hospital nurse and union steward, told several media outlets that, while non-smoking policies exist, they are simply not being enforced, and nurses are afraid to report drug exposure and violence because “when they have reported, nothing has changed.”

Lily, a Vancouver Island nurse with decades of experience working in hospital settings, told me that drug use and harassment are omnipresent at her hospital, which she characterized as a “glorified homeless unit” (a pseudonym has been used to protect her employment).

She said that drug-addicted patients openly smoke meth and fentanyl in their rooms “every day”; that she has personally witnessed patients inject heroin or get drunk with no consequences; and that dealers traffic illicit substances in the hallways “right in front of everyone.”

Discussing how this has impacted patient care, Lily asked me to imagine my mother or father sitting in a hospital bed and sharing a room with three meth addicts who were filling the air with toxic fumes. Exasperated, she said her hospital often showed great reluctance to kick drug users out, even though some addicts would, in fits of psychosis or withdrawal, “beat the sh-t” out of elderly and disabled patients.

Drug users at Lily’s hospital routinely molest nurses, grab their breasts and subject them to a barrage of sexually inappropriate comments, she said. Yet nurses who complain are given “absolutely zero” support. She recalled one drug-addicted patient who leered at her for hours, mouthing “I’m going to f-cking kill you.” When she reported this to her superiors, nothing happened.

Lily said she was told by hospital administrators that it was fine for patients to have large knives, just so long as they were polite and didn’t threaten anyone.


https://www.cheknews.ca/happening-da...itals-1198194/

Critics have jumped on the topic, calling it outrageous, while nurses told CHEK News that the issue is happening across the province, including on Vancouver Island.

Nurses say they have to walk through toxic plumes of fentanyl from people smoking drugs, and it got so bad that one Island nurse was told not to breastfeed her child out of fear that the milk may be contaminated from drugs she had been exposed to at work.

A Victoria General nurse and union steward who spoke with CHEK News on Thursday said the issue has gotten progressively worse since decriminalization.

“I can definitely tell you it’s happening daily,” said Laura Martin, Victoria General Hospital nurse.

[chemgear]

https://www.biv.com/news/commentary/...tients-8567326

The conditions in northern B.C. hospitals pale in comparison to what’s happening in Vancouver, a source says

“Absolutely there are people throughout that hospital who are dealing and using everywhere,” one nurse who works there told me.

“When we all saw that news thing about Northern Health we were laughing our asses off, saying they should take a walk down Burrard Street, walk through St. Paul’s.”

Increasingly, nurses are getting sick from having to walk through toxic plumes of fentanyl from all the drug smoking in rooms, bathrooms and hallways, said the union. Members have said when they complain, they are accused of not being supportive enough of harm reduction.

Perhaps nowhere is the situation worse than at St. Paul’s, which is ground zero for B.C.’s overdose crisis due to its proximity to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

“You can barely walk into some of the rooms, there’s needles and broken crack pipes and dirty food all over the floor,” the nurse told me.

Smoking drugs is now the most popular method for consumption, B.C. officials have said. Yet patients can’t smoke drugs in St. Paul’s fourth floor overdose prevention site. So they go outside to the rooftop garden patio of the Providence building, where drug dealers have taken up court to prey on the audience. Nothing is done to deter them.

“We have patients in four-bed rooms that have been exposed to patients fighting with their drug dealers in the room and having their personal effects stolen,” the nurse said.

That’s outrageous, said Sturko.

“Would I be comfortable sending my grandmother, who might have a broken hip, and have her lying beside someone who might be smoking crystal meth and have a weapon?” said Sturko. “Probably not.”

[TheIronMaiden]

The worst part about addicts is that they think they are only hurting themselves.

[FlamesAddiction]

When I was in Victoria over the long weekend, I walked past a kid, couldn't have been older than 13, shooting up just outside the entrance of a McDonalds in broad daylight. There was a group of them and I heard one of the girls, again probably around 13, telling a another girl that she would give her a "practice one". I am pretty sure I witnessed a kid introducing another kid to heroin for the first time. I was with my kid and had to distract her so she wouldn't see.

I feel bad, like I should have intervened or something.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

When I was in Victoria over the long weekend, I walked past a kid, couldn't have been older than 13, shooting up just outside the entrance of a McDonalds in broad daylight. There was a group of them and I heard one of the girls, again probably around 13, telling a another girl that she would give her a "practice one". I am pretty sure I witnessed a kid introducing another kid to heroin for the first time. I was with my kid and had to distract her so she wouldn't see.

I feel bad, like I should have intervened or something.

We're normalizing drug use. Drug use on playgrounds is protected now.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

When I was in Victoria over the long weekend, I walked past a kid, couldn't have been older than 13, shooting up just outside the entrance of a McDonalds in broad daylight. There was a group of them and I heard one of the girls, again probably around 13, telling a another girl that she would give her a "practice one". I am pretty sure I witnessed a kid introducing another kid to heroin for the first time. I was with my kid and had to distract her so she wouldn't see.



I feel bad, like I should have intervened or something.

This stuff breaks my heart. They're just kids with their whole lives ahead of them. So sad.

[cam_calderon]

I'm pretty sure any attempted intervention would not have been particularly well received. Especially with your young daughter in tow.

It's a sad scene, no doubt, but do you think you could've done anything, really?

[TheIronMaiden]

I wonder if all those kids watching junkies shoot up will grow up hating drugs and re introduce the war on drugs.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by chemgear

We're normalizing drug use. Drug use on playgrounds is protected now.

Hate to break it to you, but we've been normalizing drug use for over a century now. Unless you want to shut down nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and weed sales, that ain't stopping anytime soon.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I wonder if all those kids watching junkies shoot up will grow up hating drugs and re introduce the war on drugs.

Thankfully most of the younger generation realizes this is a health issue and chooses not to dehumanize those who are struggling vs. what older generations do.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Thankfully most of the younger generation realizes this is a health issue and chooses not to dehumanize those who are struggling vs. what older generations do.

I dunno, my teenager and all his friends call them Tweakers and seem to make fun of them.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I dunno, my teenager and all his friends call them Tweakers and seem to make fun of them.

The fire fighters and nurses I know call them frequent flyers.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

The fire fighters and nurses I know call them frequent flyers.

From what I've seen the first responders have to have a bit of a sense of humour about the whole thing, or it would destroy them. The amount of call, for example, in downtown Vancouver is insane. You have some paramedics just constantly riding around from OD to OD.

I gave CPR to a homeless man ODing at a bus stop, last summer. The firemen showed up in 5-10 minutes and gave him a drug that awoke him instantly. They had a pretty nonchalant attitude about it. I asked if he would be okay, and they replied he'd probably be ODing again soon. The man refused a hospital visit. All they could do was give him info about resources and let him go on his way.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by blankall

From what I've seen the first responders have to have a bit of a sense of humour about the whole thing, or it would destroy them. The amount of call, for example, in downtown Vancouver is insane. You have some paramedics just constantly riding around from OD to OD.

I gave CPR to a homeless man ODing at a bus stop, last summer. The firemen showed up in 5-10 minutes and gave him a drug that awoke him instantly. They had a pretty nonchalant attitude about it. I asked if he would be okay, and they replied he'd probably be ODing again soon. The man refused a hospital visit. All they could do was give him info about resources and let him go on his way.

It really is tragic, the stories my friends tell about seeing the same people OD over and over wake up and laugh with their friends about how "good their #### is".

Just the same, I had a friend who worked at a safe injection site at a hospital, and there were people just limping along in their ####ed up lives trying to keep things together. ( she also hated that I called them junkies).

This is not a new crisis, opiate addition is as old as the poppy seed, the difference now is that 1. the drug supply is much more toxic 2. the use of drugs in public is much more common, because punishment of such is much less common.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

This is not a new crisis, opiate addition is as old as the poppy seed, the difference now is that 1. the drug supply is much more toxic 2. the use of drugs in public is much more common, because punishment of such is much less common homelessness is more common.

Fixed that for you.