What do you think leads to controversy around these sites, and should they be controversial?

“The language. The ‘enabler’ language, ‘facilitating illegal activity,’ ‘harm production’ instead of ‘harm reduction.’ There’s a sort of self-righteous posturing behind the idea that everyone should be a contributing member of society, have a job, pay their rent or mortgage. This fails to recognize the limits of our cultural organization. There are people here who will never fit into that mold because of mental illness, mental capacity, or trauma. We need to acknowledge that harm reduction is an important care model, and we need to protect it.

I’ve been living and working in this neighborhood for a long time. So, in some ways, I don’t have an effective barometer for controversy. On the other hand, I have a really effective barometer for suffering and needless tragedy. We can respond to this, but the primary barrier is drug policy and access to a clean and safe supply. Let’s say that the decriminalization model is trustworthy: instead of a lethal drug supply, one can access a managed, prescribed supply. Let’s say that access to care increases, and the associated stigma, violence, and crime decreases. Then maybe it’s not that bad to have in my neighborhood, right?

Vancouver has been a global leader in the response to the HIV/AIDS crisis and the experience of HIV/AIDS, and harm reduction. Those are two deeply compassionate experiences, and we’ve informed policy around the globe. I want people to be proud of that. It might be ugly, it might be confusing, and it might seem chaotic, but we can take care of people in profound ways. I think that’s a flag we should wave.”

Learn more on Harm reduction throughout the opioid crisis: A community responds by Jacob L. Stubbs via BCMJ. #MustRead #HarmReduction #OpioidCrisis #RonnieGrigg #OverdosePreventionSociety #PeerModelofCare

Research-Based Theatre: Practice, Possibilities, and Assessment Symposium
May 29-31, 2019

Over the course of three days on the University of British Columbia’s Point Grey Campus, the Research-Based Theatre, Practice, Possibilities, and Assessment Symposium will offer participants the opportunity to explore practice and possibilities for strengthening and clearly articulating how to effectively assess Research-Based Theatre (RBT) projects. RBT projects are often cross-disciplinary in nature and combine diverse research methods call for new assessment approaches that can be used in support of funding applications and community partnerships. The symposium will consist of a number of interactive, collaborative sessions exploring RBT assessment, and feature four RBT projects from UBC Research Based Theatre Collaborative: Water in Rural and Indigenous Communities; Disabilities in the Health Professions; Student to Student Abuse in Residential Schools; and Veterans Recovering from Trauma.

UBC’s Research based Theatre (RBT) piece, “Alone in the Ring”, depicting the experiences of students and clinicians with disabilities from the health professions, is now finalized.

We will be performing the play, with all whistles and blowers, props and staging, in two separate events:

May 30th, 11am-12pm, Rm 4202, AMS Nest, Point Gray Campus – please register via this link  – you can state that you are coming only to our performance (this is a 3 day event…)

June 2nd, 7-9:30 pm, as part of a performance panel at the CDSA conference, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre 6163 University Blvd. Point Gray Campus

We would love to have you join us in one (or both) of those events and to hear your impressions.

Thanks
Tal

Tal Jarus, PhD, FCAOT, Reg. OT
Professor  |  Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus
tal.jarus@ubc.ca

Summer is fast approaching and wildfires are popping up throughout our provinces. Now is the time to prepare for an emergency response. IDEO assembled a simple guide to help in the process:

“Just like buying life insurance, or saving for a rainy day, a future emergency is an abstraction that’s hard to connect to our day-to-day priorities. And unlike seeing everyone else’s trash cans line the curb once a week, preparedness doesn’t have any visible prompts to encourage all of us to get with the program.
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Here are a few simple steps to get you started—collaboratively—in just a week. Share this with your family, your roommate, your colleagues, or your book club.
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1. Now: Follow Local Alerts. Follow local emergency alerts from the Fire Department and/or your local Department of Emergency Management. (Further info at BC Emergency Info and receive emergency notifications, BC Government News, and BCPrepared). FireSmart Canada also provides a Last Minute Wildlife Checklist: 

2. Tomorrow: Copy Your Documents: Take a photo of or scan your driver’s license, passport, lease/ownership documents, social security card, and other important documents.
3. This weekend: Gather Your Stuff. Print out a list of essentials, useful stuff, and personal items to get started.
4. Next week: Make a Plan. Use a form to help you facilitate the conversation, pick a meeting spot, and collect phone numbers on paper.

More on A designer’s guide to emergency preparedness via IDEO. Image above via B.C. lends first responders to Alberta to help with wildfires burning out of control.

Interested in how to prepare your clinic? Review of emergency preparedness in the office setting: How best to prepare based on your practice and patient demographic characteristics (April 2019) and Are you ready for an office code blue?: Online video to prepare for office emergencies by Dr. Simon Moore of UBC’s Department of Family Practice.

“What they have here, they call it … [a] health-care system, but it’s basically a sickness care model.” ~ Dr. Shobha Rayapudi
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The Rayapudis found that 80 per cent of the diseases they were seeing in patients were related to diet and lifestyle — and changing these two factors was more effective and safe than treating chronic diseases with drugs and surgery.
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Changing eating habits requires three ingredients, said Shobha. If one ingredient is missing, “the change is not going to happen in a sustainable manner. First, you have to have the knowledge, like why certain foods are harmful.…Similarly, you have to have the skills of how you can put that knowledge into place. And the third one is you have to have the support.”

More on Food as medicine: How this Newfoundland community got ‘hooked’ on plant-based eating via CBC Radio White Coat, Black Art.

Imparting knowledge is only lighting other men’s candles at our lamp without depriving ourselves of any flame. ~ Jane Porter

It’s that time of year where I reflect on our team and those individuals who have demonstrated perseverance in honing their teaching skills. These are educators who exemplify excellence, honesty, and authenticity in their work. They greatly value the discipline and practice of education by establishing meaningful and supportive relationships with our learners, faculty, and staff. This year I’d like to acknowledge Dr. Nader Elmayergi, Dr. Shavinder Gill, Dr. Jeff Kornelsen, and Dr. Iris Liu.

Dr. Nader Elmayergi, Cardiologist: Dr. Elmayergi spearheaded the development of our Cardiology Primer that has been locally and globally accessed and shared. In 2018, he encouraged his colleagues to contribute to the work and updated the Primer with two additional co-authors, Dr. Perminder Bains (Medical Director, Heart Failure) and Dr. Osama Gusbi (Medical Director, Cardiodiagnostics). Dr. Elmayergi strives to improve his inventions while igniting others to do the same. He recently joined our Faculty as our EBM Lead and Specialist Liaison.

Dr. Shavinder Gil, Internist: Dr. Gill is one of the most dedicated individuals to teaching and learning. He invests hours in designing new pathways and approaches to sharing his knowledge and expertise with others. Dr. Gill contributes to our academic half day sessions and frequently extends himself to our residents who may want to learn more about internal medicine. He provides us with refreshing ideas and opportunities that allow our site to explore how we can improve our Family Physician Residency Program.

Dr. Jeff Kornelsen, Family Physician: Dr. Kornelsen is a continual source of inspiration and innovation. It was through his desire to improve upon his own teaching that we developed a novel method of providing preceptors access to timely feedback via video observation. This resulted in our recent Faculty Development Initiative Grant award allowing the Department of Family Practice to further pursue the concept. Dr. Kornelsen also serves as a primary preceptor and advocate for women’s maternity care.

Dr. Iris Liu, Family Physician: Dr. Liu, a graduate of the Abbotsford-Mission program, has supported and served as our Faculty Lead for Scholarship and Behavioural Medicine for the past two years. In addition to juggling these two massive portfolios, she has championed the development of our academic events including our Resident Research Evening. Dr. Liu is also a primary preceptor and regularly teaches in our academic half day sessions. She’s nurtured the success of this site through her care and creativity.

Thank you to all of our Family Physician and Specialist preceptors. We exist and persist because of your energy and investment.

I’ll be handing out your medals and a bottle of the best darn root beer this side of Regina at our Pub & Papers evening!

Warm regards,

Jacqueline

Congratulations UBC Medicine Class of 2019!
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
#UBC #MedEd #HatToss
Thank you to Dr. Roger Wong for sharing this wonderful image!

Dr. Guilia Enders author of Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ (2015)

“The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinions? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up–ever–trusting our fellow citizens to join with us in our determined pursuit of a living democracy?”

~Terry Tempest Williams

*Illustration by Dr. Michiko Maruyama

Many Indigenous people are wary of doctors. Yet familiarity begets communication, and understanding improves care. I have family on reserve, so patients don’t need to tell me their whole story for me to understand. Like the program graduates before me, who work in communities up north and cities across the country, I hope to help bridge that gap and improve Indigenous access to health care, which will improve health outcomes for Indigenous people.

~ More on UBC Program Graduates Indigenous MDs to Bridge Health Gap (May 19, 2019) by Rebekah Eatmon, UBC medical undergraduate and post-graduate resident specializing in family medicine via Times Colonist.