Pubdate: Tue, 25 Nov 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: Michael Pond
Page: D3

A COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE

Fraser Health: Training film seeks to treat addiction like any other illness

"Just sit there and wait. Don't you know there are real sick people
here?"

In my years of severe alcoholism, I lost track of the number of times
an ER nurse or doctor said something like that to me. In a column a
few weeks ago I tallied up how the lack of care and compassion I
experienced in my 31 drunken ER visits actually cost the taxpayer a
lot more money and made my condition much worse.

Now Fraser Health has taken a bold and long overdue step to help
change attitudes about addiction. It's made a training film for first
responders to hammer home a critical message: not treating addiction
like the severe illness it is ends up killing people.

Sherry Mumford, of Fraser Health's Mental Health and Substance Use
Services, puts it bluntly. "Somebody intoxicated or overdosed or
experiencing some kind of crisis as a result of substance use is no
different than someone who is having a heart attack or having a
diabetic episode."

Wow. To hear a senior health manager speak this way is
powerful.

Fraser Health made the unusual move of covertly testing staff
attitudes and didn't like what it saw - a lot of incidents of clients
being treated in a very negative manner.

In the film, paramedics, police, nurses, doctors, educators and
clients illustrate how brief moments of engaging substance users with
respect and compassion can have a remarkable, life-changing impact.

Annette Browne, of the UBC School of Nursing: "Moments of conveying 
acceptance and a non-judgmental stance may be brief and fleeting but the 
impact can be profound and significant for the person."

We see it play out in the film. Joey, a former heroin addict, tells
how a compassionate encounter with cops helped him stop using.

"My mom was an addict. I started using heroin when I was 16. I was in
and out of prison for nine years. I hated the police. It was
definitely an 'us against them mentality.' I was nothing but a junkie.
Then one day, I was stabbed on the DTES. Two police treated me like I
was a regular person. They treated me like they cared. That experience
changed my life. I've been clean ever since. "

Having the patience to listen to those stories is key, especially when
so many addicts are First Nations. "We have a responsibility to learn
about what their stories are," says Cheryl Ward, of the Indigenous
Cultural Competency Training Program of the Provincial Health Services
Authority.

The film urges first responders to confront their own compassion
fatigue.

Constable Shane Wiens: "We deal with 10 per cent of the population 90 
per cent of the time, and they are at their lowest. When you see that 
all the time, it just drains you."

This film is a great first step. But helping staff deal with
compassion fatigue must come next.

Consistent compassion is the only way we'll come out from under the
monumental burden that addiction is to our health care system. Next
time you're in an ER, perhaps practice a bit of that compassion
yourself. If a detoxing addict is creating mayhem, let's all stop our
eye rolling, and remember this person is seriously - and perhaps life
threateningly, ill.

Watch the film at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ6MxEqnW4U
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MAP posted-by: Matt