Death and Our Government Draw Parrels...

The death of a person seems to be very traumatic for most people. It evens seems to exceptable by others. But the death of any agency, service provider has a bigger impact on society but seems to fall under the acceptable catogory until some one gets shot in our door step, needs the services and find it is no longer there. It is even all to easy to plan the victim for over spending, not being able to budget right, becoming an addict.
Here in BC A lone there are great services like the Aborginal mother centre that are in a critical stage of closing for good. Victoria's own Needle Exchange gone possible for good and the Status Women Action Group slipping away into the storage room of some storage room. Put away alike an out dated old antique.
All of these services agencies have saved lives. Possible hundreds of lives over their life span. Axed by society because they were considered a disposable service and needed by many more who are being denied the right to live due to the to lean of cut backs to these services. Forcing people out onto the streets and into precariously dangerous situations that untimately have heavy consequencies like this one in the news paper article take from one of the Vancouver Island newspapers.
Homeless need better access to health care
The Daily News (Nanaimo)
Tue 03 Jun 2008
Page: A10
Section: Ours & Yours
Source: The Daily News

It often takes a tragedy in order for people to care about an ongoing
problem.

The death of Norman Leger is another example of this reality.

The body of the 49-year-old Nanaimo man was discovered in Barsby Park
near the Millstone River on Saturday, part of an area frequented by the homeless.

Leger was homeless.

Police suspect that he died of chronic health conditions. It's a common problem for the 300 people who live on the streets of the Harbour City.

This won't surprise most people.

It's common knowledge that most homeless people suffer from
mental-health problems, addiction, infectious diseases like hepatitis C and HIV and other illnesses.

But it's deaths like Leger's that illustrate what the lack of shelter
and adequate resources can do to a person.

This isn't just a reality for Leger. This is a reality for all homeless people.

Jeorge McGladrey of Nanaimo Citizen's Advocacy summed it up succinctly.

"When you don't have a home, you can't get well," McGladrey told the
Daily News.

"(The homeless) have health care. The problem is once they receive the care, they have nowhere to practise it."

This problem isn't just a cause for concern in Nanaimo.

B.C. has 2,200 homeless residents with 1,200 living just in Vancouver.

But these numbers are small in comparison to other places in North
America like Los Angeles, the U.S. homelessness capital.

More than 40,000 people live on the city's streets, while a further
33,000 residents of the entire region of Los Angeles County are
homeless.

It's great to see the Vancouver Island Health Authority support workers taking to the streets to help homeless people.

This is exactly the sort of practical solution we need to combat the
problem of homelessness.

According to Jonnie Tunnell, who co-ordinates a mental-health crisis
team, 99% of the homeless people they help are addicted to drugs or
alcohol -- usually crack cocaine.

"It is difficult for (the homeless) to access health care," said
Tunnell. "A lot of the time people are more concerned with addictions
and wouldn't actively seek out health care."

"Homelessness," she points out, "makes people sick."

Resources like Samaritan House and the Salvation Army's New Hope Centre, as valuable as they are, aren't going to cure homeless people of disease.

And low-cost housing -- as nice as it would be -- wouldn't solve the
problem either.

We can't force people to leave the streets just as we can't force them to give up the addictions that will eventually kill them.

But we don't need to cure homelessness in order to have some impact.
That's never going to happen. Instead we must help the most vulnerable members of our society to have the best life and the best access to resources that they can possibly have.

And we need to make sure that others don't follow down the same path of addiction and homelessness.

As a society, we need to promote and support resources like the
Samaritan House, New Hope Centre, 7-10 Club and VIHA's mental-health
crisis team, but also focus on prevention.

When people want to get off the streets, kick their addiction and get
their health under control, we need to give them adequate access to
services to let them accomplish this goal.

And we need to educate and inform our youth of the tragic realities of addiction before they think of using drugs.

It is our job as the taxpaying public to support the most vulnerable in our society.

Unfortunately, it's too late to help Leger. But we can all work to
ensure that deaths like his will be minimized in the future.

Idnumber: 200806030044
Edition: Final
Story Type: News
Length: 600 words

Street life is often sickly; Man dies of chronic health problems after living in city squat The Daily News (Nanaimo)
Tue 03 Jun 2008
Page: A5
Section: Local
Byline: Danielle Bell
Source: Daily News

Many of the 300 people who live on Nanaimo's streets face an uphill
battle to stay well.

The recent death of a homeless Nanaimo man with chronic health problems has brought attention to a need for easily accessible health resources.

A passing hiker discovered the body of Norman Leger, 49, in Barsby Park, a popular homeless squat, near the Millstone River on Saturday morning.
Police know the area is popular for overnight tenting and do not suspect foul play.

Though medical services are available, many do not seek treatment until it's too late, cannot shake off their addictions long enough to get help, or are discharged back to conditions that make staying healthy difficult.

Some find accessing services cumbersome.

"When you don't have a home, you can't get well," said Jeorge McGladrey of the Nanaimo Citizen's Advocacy. "(The homeless) have health care. The problem is once they receive the care, they have nowhere to practise it."

Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien said squatting is an issue
throughout several sites in the city.

For several years, up to 10 people at a time have been tenting at the
site where Leger's body was found, he said.

A homeless man making his way into the Barsby Park area Monday said the site "is one of the better places (to camp)."

Evidence of a recent campfire, a pile of underwear and bras and garbage lay scattered Monday near what appeared to be several squatting sites.
Police say drug paraphernalia and used condoms are also routinely found.

"Maybe with (Leger's) death there'll be a little more exposure. We can't wait to deal with this," said O'Brien of the city's homeless situation.
"It's everybody's issue."

Jonnie Tunnell, a mental-health crisis team co-ordinator through the
Vancouver Island Health Authority, supervises two support workers who
work the streets of the Nanaimo engaging the homeless, including
transporting them to doctors and helping them seek treatment.

Tunnell said 99% of the homeless they help are addicted to drugs or
alcohol. Their substance of choice is crack cocaine, she said.

Only 4% of the 258 clients they logged recently were not using any
substances, said Tunnell.

"It is difficult for (the homeless) to access health care," said
Tunnell. "A lot of the time people are more concerned with (their)
addictions and wouldn't actively seek out healthcare."

Commonly seen conditions on the street include open wounds and
infections, HIV and hepatitis C, said Tunnell.

"Homelessness makes people sick, she said."

Jo Taylor, the Pacific Rim region representative for the B.C. Nurses
Union, said she usually sees homeless people in the Nanaimo Regional
General Hospital's emergency room.

"We don't see them in walk-in clinics," said Taylor. "We usually see
(the homeless) in emergency."

Taylor said access to such clinics can be cumbersome with difficulties the homeless may have, such as accessing care cards.

Tunnell said she expects to see Nanaimo's number of homeless rise as the city's population grows.

She'd like to see low-barrier housing with supervision, so at least
people could have access to a bed out of the elements. Sobriety would
not be a requirement to access the housing.

While police try to be proactive, clear out squatters and keep tabs on the "regulars," simply displacing the homeless does not solve the
problem.

"You have to keep a handle on it, but unfortunately it's a continuous
issue," said O'Brien. "You know that 50% are going to be back there
tomorrow."

DBell@nanaimodailynews.com

250-729-4255

Idnumber: 200806030017
Edition: Final
Story Type: News
Length: 573 words

So will we see more of these people dying? Maybe if we dare to open our eyes and really look around us. Will there be more services gone yes -far more then will be created-due to governemnet trimmings. Just like the increase of deaths so will the needs increase. Will people come to our defense? Only if it is themselves who ends up needing one of these services or a loved dies because they couldn't gt in the door fast enough.