To: The Province of British Columbia, BC Public Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Minister of Health, Hon. Adrian Dix, The City of Vancouver
A Celebration Honouring Health Care Workers & a Eulogy for the Health Care System
Asks of decision makers:
- Healthcare reform - a massive overhaul of the systems-design & funding allocations.
- Formal investigations & an action-plan.
- Increased employee supports and meaningful retention efforts.
More specifically:
- Immediate shift to funding preventative health measures
- Defunding other public services we know to be unproductive/counterproductive.
- A formal public acknowledgement of the crisis & death-tolls related to stimulants (cocaine, crack, crystal meth) in bc.
- An official public health emergency related to extreme lack of resources & crisis in ER/acute care to enable swift actions regarding reforms to the healthcare systems.
- An official public health emergency related to crystal meth.
Context: the use of crystal meth surpassed opioid use years ago and the metrics (death toll, costs to the tax payers, and human collateral) remain unreported to the public. In my experience working with substance users, it's widely known to healthcare & social service addictions & mental health workers in BC. Crystal meath users are generally ignored & tossed aside. Opioid overdose deaths are a clean & clear metric; data re: stimulant related deaths, violent incidents, self-harm & tons of incarcerations are not widely collected or reported publicly. These metrics are however more of a problem amongst crystal meth users; the impact to our friends, family & neighbours is truly staggering.
The health authorities and facilities are floundering and the human collateral is outrageous.
- Healthcare reform - a massive overhaul of the systems-design & funding allocations.
- Formal investigations & an action-plan.
- Increased employee supports and meaningful retention efforts.
More specifically:
- Immediate shift to funding preventative health measures
- Defunding other public services we know to be unproductive/counterproductive.
- A formal public acknowledgement of the crisis & death-tolls related to stimulants (cocaine, crack, crystal meth) in bc.
- An official public health emergency related to extreme lack of resources & crisis in ER/acute care to enable swift actions regarding reforms to the healthcare systems.
- An official public health emergency related to crystal meth.
Context: the use of crystal meth surpassed opioid use years ago and the metrics (death toll, costs to the tax payers, and human collateral) remain unreported to the public. In my experience working with substance users, it's widely known to healthcare & social service addictions & mental health workers in BC. Crystal meath users are generally ignored & tossed aside. Opioid overdose deaths are a clean & clear metric; data re: stimulant related deaths, violent incidents, self-harm & tons of incarcerations are not widely collected or reported publicly. These metrics are however more of a problem amongst crystal meth users; the impact to our friends, family & neighbours is truly staggering.
The health authorities and facilities are floundering and the human collateral is outrageous.
Why is this important?
Healthcare collapse is one of the most urgent issues in our province. We need your help.
Patients are unable to access care until they are near death. Front-line healthcare workers are experiencing medical-level burnout, PTSD, moral & ethical distress, and mass resignation.
This is a huge cost to British Columbians in all the ways of assessing cost.
The solutions proposed to increase University funding and hiring doctors is essentially useless and cruel to young professionals/new graduates. For the salary of 1 doctor, the province could hire multiple nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses or allied health professionals such as social workers, rehabilitation specialists and social service & housing workers; these clinicians and workers are best-positioned to address the staggering issues of housing, social service referrals, community & residential rehabilitation, home & community support care, government disability funding & programs etc. Healthcare and social service workers are largely young women who work in risky situations in acute care & dangerous areas of downtown & SROs. We are tossing bodies at a problem that needs to be remedied at the systems level & human-resource-retention & safety. Meanwhile, thousands of workers are ending up on medical leave with psychological & physical health issues which is funded by WorkSafe BC, on long-term disability supports, tax-payer funded public resources and/or individually-funded private services (counselling, psychologists and private psychiatrists etc). This is no way to treat our 'healthcare heroes' who we glorify in the media & then readily ignore.
We're deep in a crisis and we can't let this continue; the height of the problems are yet to come. This year in April & May alone, more than 100 doctors, nurses, healthcare workers & social service providers working for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Fraser Health (FHA) signed open letters to the media crying out because of a large lack of resources and poor treatment of the individuals they provide services for. Additionally, more than 700 Canadian academics also signed an open letter decrying the dismantling of the Main & Hastings encampment.
It cannot be overstated how significant this is; health authority employees are risking their employment and careers by doing this. The alarm bells are going off yet the fire is being ignored.
May 2023:
More than two dozen Surrey Memorial Hospital ER doctors signed an open letter:
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-physicians-open-letter-1.6843980
- https://globalnews.ca/news/9700128/surrey-memorial-hospital-crisis-doctors-letter/#:~:text=Dozens%20of%20emergency%20room%20doctors,to%20patients%20and%20the%20public.%E2%80%9D
May 2023:
36 Surrey Memorial Hospital Obgyn doctors signed open letter.
- "More than two-thirds of women's health providers at the hospital have signed a letter saying critically inadequate resources are compromising patient safety, resulting in an untold number of close calls and the death of a newborn in 2020" attributed to lack of resources, according to the healthcare workers involved.
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-womens-health-doctors-open-letter-1.6858473
April 2023:
44 nurses, community outreach and social workers signed an open letter to Vancouver Coastal Health “Many of us who are on the front line have witnessed and/or been the recipients of police-led violence or escalation, both physical and verbal,” the document reads.
- https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vch-workers-decry-east-hastings-decampment-despite-fearing-employer-blowback
April, 2023:
More than 700 people signed “An Open Letter from Academics Against Vancouver’s encampment evictions” in response to the city’s efforts to remove all tents and structures from East Hastings Street. The letter was addressed to 25 B.C. politicians, including the premier, Housing Minister, Health Minister, Vancouver’s mayor, the entirety of city council, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
- https://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-must-do-better-700-academics-decry-dtes-decampment-in-open-letter-1.6355904
Patients are unable to access care until they are near death. Front-line healthcare workers are experiencing medical-level burnout, PTSD, moral & ethical distress, and mass resignation.
This is a huge cost to British Columbians in all the ways of assessing cost.
The solutions proposed to increase University funding and hiring doctors is essentially useless and cruel to young professionals/new graduates. For the salary of 1 doctor, the province could hire multiple nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses or allied health professionals such as social workers, rehabilitation specialists and social service & housing workers; these clinicians and workers are best-positioned to address the staggering issues of housing, social service referrals, community & residential rehabilitation, home & community support care, government disability funding & programs etc. Healthcare and social service workers are largely young women who work in risky situations in acute care & dangerous areas of downtown & SROs. We are tossing bodies at a problem that needs to be remedied at the systems level & human-resource-retention & safety. Meanwhile, thousands of workers are ending up on medical leave with psychological & physical health issues which is funded by WorkSafe BC, on long-term disability supports, tax-payer funded public resources and/or individually-funded private services (counselling, psychologists and private psychiatrists etc). This is no way to treat our 'healthcare heroes' who we glorify in the media & then readily ignore.
We're deep in a crisis and we can't let this continue; the height of the problems are yet to come. This year in April & May alone, more than 100 doctors, nurses, healthcare workers & social service providers working for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Fraser Health (FHA) signed open letters to the media crying out because of a large lack of resources and poor treatment of the individuals they provide services for. Additionally, more than 700 Canadian academics also signed an open letter decrying the dismantling of the Main & Hastings encampment.
It cannot be overstated how significant this is; health authority employees are risking their employment and careers by doing this. The alarm bells are going off yet the fire is being ignored.
May 2023:
More than two dozen Surrey Memorial Hospital ER doctors signed an open letter:
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-physicians-open-letter-1.6843980
- https://globalnews.ca/news/9700128/surrey-memorial-hospital-crisis-doctors-letter/#:~:text=Dozens%20of%20emergency%20room%20doctors,to%20patients%20and%20the%20public.%E2%80%9D
May 2023:
36 Surrey Memorial Hospital Obgyn doctors signed open letter.
- "More than two-thirds of women's health providers at the hospital have signed a letter saying critically inadequate resources are compromising patient safety, resulting in an untold number of close calls and the death of a newborn in 2020" attributed to lack of resources, according to the healthcare workers involved.
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-memorial-hospital-womens-health-doctors-open-letter-1.6858473
April 2023:
44 nurses, community outreach and social workers signed an open letter to Vancouver Coastal Health “Many of us who are on the front line have witnessed and/or been the recipients of police-led violence or escalation, both physical and verbal,” the document reads.
- https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vch-workers-decry-east-hastings-decampment-despite-fearing-employer-blowback
April, 2023:
More than 700 people signed “An Open Letter from Academics Against Vancouver’s encampment evictions” in response to the city’s efforts to remove all tents and structures from East Hastings Street. The letter was addressed to 25 B.C. politicians, including the premier, Housing Minister, Health Minister, Vancouver’s mayor, the entirety of city council, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
- https://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-must-do-better-700-academics-decry-dtes-decampment-in-open-letter-1.6355904
How it will be delivered
Open letter to be published subsequent to the petition & public event.
Delivered to parties above in fall/winter 2023.
The organizers are seeking:
Volunteers
Stakeholder input
Leadership roles
Performers
Food vendors
Sponsorship & donations
Support via monetary & in-kind donations (free food for healthcare workers; funds for supplies etc)
Contact Lisa Allyn
lisa.m.allyn [@] gmail.com
@allynkey on instagram