Pubdate: Sat, 10 May 2014
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Denise Ryan
Page: A15

ADDICTIONS EXPERT TO COMBAT ISSUE HEAD-ON

Vancouver Coastal Health and St. Paul's Hospital are joining forces 
to combat Vancouver's soaring alcohol and drug addiction problem with 
the appointment of Dr. Evan Wood as the new medical director for 
addiction services at VCH and physician program director for 
addiction at Providence Health Care.

"There has been an 89-per-cent increase in presentations to St. 
Paul's emergency room for addiction issues over the last four years," 
said Wood. Although Vancouver has made some strides in dealing with 
the city's addiction-affected population through harm reduction, Wood 
plans to zero in on what he sees as a critical missing part of the 
addiction services puzzle. "The educating of physicians is a huge 
thing. Traditionally, addictions have languished on the margins of 
the health care system and it has created huge costs in all the 
health concerns that ultimately can result from addiction."

Wood believes addiction is a health issue as specialized as 
cardiology or cancer.

When patients have a cardiology issue, or are dealing with cancer, 
they are treated by a team of trained experts, said Wood. "For 
addiction as a health issue, it should be the same."

In 2012, Wood established the Goldcorp addiction medicine fellowship 
at St. Paul's, Western Canada's first American Board of Addiction 
Medicine accredited addiction physician training program, with a goal 
of giving 20 specialist physicians over five years the tools to 
prevent and treat addiction. Now he envisions an integrated research, 
learning and treatment centre similar to the B.C. Centre For 
Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

He said it would "perform research that can inform the system of 
care, particularly doing clinical trials of new medications. We are 
keen to establish that infrastructure.

"Right now most primary care physicians are not equipped with the 
tools to help with addiction," he added. "The capacity to intervene 
early and the ability to help with patients once they are very sick 
is lacking. It is a fundamental barrier."

Dianne Doyle, president and CEO of PHC, lauded the appointment. 
"Addiction and health complications of untreated addiction have 
become a primary driver of admissions to St. Paul's Hospital," she 
said. "Turning things around will require not only evidence-based 
prevention and treatment services but also the integration of 
research and educational efforts."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom