Pubdate: Mon, 16 Oct 2006
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2006 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

VANCOUVER ACTIVIST FOUNDED NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM

John Turvey, a former drug addict who went on to become a champion of 
the poor and downtrodden in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside for more 
than three decades, has died. He was 61.

Turvey died last Wednesday morning in Comox, B.C. He had moved there 
with his wife Deb after he was diagnosed almost four years ago with 
mitochondrial myopathy, which interferes with nerve and muscle function.

Turvey was best known for founding the Vancouver needle exchange 
program -- one of the first in Canada -- and the Downtown Eastside 
Youth Activities Society (DEYAS).

The former social worker was forced to retire as executive director 
of DEYAS after he was diagnosed with the fatal disease.

"He fought all his life for everybody else and this was his fight," 
recalled Deb, a former Downtown Eastside social worker. "He never 
quit trying. He never gave up."

She said one of the highlights of her husband's life occurred in 
March, when he was presented with the Order of Canada for his life's 
work helping others.

"It was a very proud moment for him," she recalled, adding the 
ceremony was held at the Comox recreation centre because John was too 
ill to travel to Ottawa. "He had his grandson on his knee and his 
family there."

Deb was John's full-time caregiver for the last three years, which 
brought them closer, but his death still came as a shock, she said. 
"I'm going to miss him so much."

At the time he was awarded the Order of Canada, Turvey told The 
Vancouver Sun that his greatest achievement in life was discovering 
the wonders of family with his wife and son, Chad, from another 
marriage, who came into his life after years of estrangement.

"Here's a guy with little experience with a functional family," 
Turvey said about himself at the time. "Now I'm experiencing family. 
I'm overwhelmed, excited."

Turvey also received the Order of British Columbia in 1984 and was 
recognized in 1988 by the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control for his 
plan to make needles readily available to Vancouver drug addicts to 
reduce the spread of disease.

He was the son of fundamentalist Baptist parents in Chilliwack, B.C. 
He ran away from home at age 13, when he became a heroin addict, but 
had turned his life around by his early twenties.

He first became a government social worker and began working in the 
1970s with street kids, who respected Turvey because he had 
experienced addiction and life on the street.

He later started DEYAS and began handing out free condoms to street 
prostitutes, whom he respected as part of the community and later 
referred to as sex trade workers.

One night, one of the prostitutes suggested to Turvey that he should 
be handing out free hypodermic needles so junkies would stop sharing 
needles, which was causing the spread of hepatitis and HIV.

That led to him pioneering Vancouver's first free needle exchange, 
which he is credited with doing without government assistance. The 
exchange now gives out more than three million needles a year.

"He was a pioneer in the realm of harm reduction," recalled Bob 
Sarti, a long-time resident of the Downtown Eastside and board member 
of Vancouver's Carnegie Centre.

"We have to recognize that he was the first person out there on 
Hastings Street, handing out needles and condoms," he said. "Creating 
the needle exchange was a mind-blowing thing for the city. It was the 
first thing that set everything else in motion."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman