hiv
Burnside jail managers fired after inmate suicide
CBC NewsTwo managers at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside have been fired after a suicide in the facility in April.
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees' Union, which represents staff at the provincial jail, confirmed the dismissals.
NSGEU president Joan Jessome said Wednesday that the two managers were let go at the same time that seven of her members were disciplined.
The unionized employees have 25 days to decide if they will file a grievance.
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Ross Landry said an internal review found employees did not follow protocol. On Thursday, he said the managers were fired as a result of their performance and not because of the suicide.
The Vienna Declaration - Sign Today! Tell your friends!
The criminalisation of illicit drug users is fuelling the HIV epidemic and has resulted in
overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. A full policy reorientation is needed.
overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences. A full policy reorientation is needed.
War on drugs has been a costly failure
The Daily NewsAfter 40 years of failure in dealing with drug abuse as a criminal problem, it's time to listen to the experts and recognize it as a health issue. Two health policy groups based in this province have helped launched an international effort to tackle the damage done by drug abuse and addiction in a new way. The principle being advanced by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy is simple.
Using a scientific approach, determine what works to reduce the damage done to individuals and societies, and what doesn't. Then do those things that are effective and quit doing those that are ineffective -- or worse, destructive.
Needle exchange opens in Alberton, PEI
CBC NewsThe first needle exchange office in western P.E.I. opened Wednesday in Alberton.
The office is located at St. Martha's house, which is attached to the Western Hospital. It will be open every Wednesday afternoon.
There are two other needle exchange offices in the province — one in Charlottetown at the Professional Boardwalk Centre on Water Street, and the other in Summerside at the Harbourside Medical Centre.
Dr. Lamont Sweet, P.E.I.'s deputy chief health officer, said there is still a need for more needle exchange offices.
"We're getting hepatitis C cases, 375 approximately in the last 10 years, of new cases," he said. "Now, 90 to 95 per cent of all new cases are due to sharing needles." Read more »
Methadone treatment expert frustrated with policy makers
SAINT JOHN - Medical ethicist and epidemiologist Tim Christie is at a loss to understand why government seems unwilling to redistribute resources that would see an additional 382 addicts receiving methadone to help them kick their habit.
"It makes no sense at all. I don't know why they won't do it," he said.
"I've engaged them in dialogue and they will not respond to reason and they won't respond to the evidence."
Health unit to dole out crack kits
By Wawmeesh G. Hamilton - Alberni Valley NewsProviding sanitary drug supplies will stem the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, says Vancouver Island Health Authority chief medical health officer Dr. Lorna Medd.
City councillors listened as Medd gave a presentation on an initiative that will see local health officials distribute crack kits to Port Alberni’s marginalized drug community.
Medical staff will administer the initiative through the local health unit, and will begin distributing the kits shortly, Medd said.
Supplying the kits doesn’t enable drug users, but rather keeps them healthy until they can pursue healing options, she said.
Health and safety the point of the program
By Jeremy Deutsch - Kamloops This WeekBehind the front counter of the ASK Wellness Centre on Tranquille Road is a yellow biohazard bucket.
The bucket is just one cog in the city’s needle-exchange program.
A heroin user in search of a fresh needle can simply bring in their used ones and discard them in the yellow box for a new set.
They may get a tutorial on how to properly use the needle, along with some information if they want to get help for their addiction.
The person then writes their initial on a sign-in sheet and goes on their way.
That sheet is handed over to the Interior Health Authority, which collects and records the data.
Abbotsford considers lifting needle exchange ban
CBC NewsAbbotsford, B.C., city council has voted to reconsider its ban on needle exchanges and supervised injection sites because of the high rate of hepatitis C in the community.
The city, which is located in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, has a zoning bylaw that prevents methadone treatment clinics, needle exchanges and supervised injection sites from setting up.
But the Fraser Health director of health promotion and prevention, David Portesi, is encouraging Abbotsford to look at harm reduction strategies for intravenous drug users.
Portesi says hepatitis C is a problem in the Fraser Valley, which has become known as a hot spot for drug and gang activity in recent years.
Real partnering takes more than SHR slogans
By Mark Lemstra, The StarPhoenixThe Saskatoon Health Region had two news releases in the past week under the umbrella of its strategic direction, "Partnering for improved health for aboriginal people."
On May 29, it released an aboriginal health strategy written by the health region, a First Nation and a Métis group. What is interesting is that the First Nation that was consulted to help write the strategy is from the Kelsey Trail Health Region.
One would think that an urban aboriginal health strategy for SHR would include the Saskatoon Tribal Council, or at least one of the four rural First Nations that actually are located within our health region's boundaries, such as the Whitecap Dakota.
The head of the Saskatoon Tribal Council calls the rising rates of HIV in the province a "crisis" facing First Nations and Metis people
The Canadian PressThe number of people testing positive for HIV in Saskatchewan is more than double the national average.
A spokeswoman with the province’s Health Ministry says there were 900 HIV-positive cases and 250 instances of full-blown AIDS in Saskatchewan in 2009. Geraldine Arcand says the rising rates of HIV means it’s time for First Nations leaders to step up to the plate and do something about it.
Provincial officials say 75 per cent of new cases in the province can be linked to injection drug use.
Dr. Moira McKinnon, the province’s chief medical health officer, says they’re modelling their provincial program after a similar one in British Columbia.
