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| This man died because he was homeless |
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posted by Michael Goodwin - Special to the Sun on
TUESDAY, APRIL 08, 2008
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This man died because he was homeless
On the front lines, an emergency room doctor sees people who would live instead of die -- if they had a place to live
Michael Goodwin
Special to the Sun
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
CREDIT: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun Files An alley is no substitute for a home, and an increasing number of people in Vancouver don't have a home.
It was 3 a.m on a winter Saturday night and the emergency department was bustling at Vancouver's downtown hospital.
As a resident on call I was attending to a stabbing victim in the trauma bay, someone in the Downtown Eastside who had been stabbed in the back near a pub after closing time. His was not an uncommon story.
Suddenly shouts emanated from the nursing station: "Clear out! Clear the trauma bay! We've got another stabbing! They lost his pulse. ETA five minutes!"
Our first stabbed patient was whisked out of the trauma bay to the only place available for him -- the hallway. We then busied ourselves preparing for the new arrival.
Intravenous bags and lines were opened and primed. Resuscitation equipment was connected and readied. We started to don gowns, gloves and masks in preparation for what would likely be a bloody encounter.
Usually in these situations there is a lull before the patient arrives. Everyone gets ready, and then waits silently for the emergency bay doors to open. Sometimes that waiting seems like forever. This time things happened quickly. Before we could organize ourselves, the bay doors were suddenly bursting open and the paramedics were wheeling our victim towards us on a stretcher.
One paramedic was "bagging" the patient -- providing breaths via a bag and mask attached to an oxygen canister. A second paramedic was steadily compressing the victim's chest to try to maintain circulation of blood. A third was pushing and steering the stretcher while simultaneously barking out a summary of the story. Like one of the street performers at Granville Island, he shouted his oration to all of us: "Homeless man stabbed in the anterior mid-chest.
Vital signs were lost at the scene. CPR was begun immediately." In other words, this man had died out on the street right in front of them only moments ago and now we were all fighting to get him back.
I couldn't help but look down at the man and his unsightly appearance with pity. His ragged plaid shirts, worn in layers to keep out the winter cold, were now completely soaked in blood. His long unkempt hair, his tattered pants, worn-out shoes and his calloused, dirt-filled hands all confirmed the orator's broadcast that he was homeless.
I looked back up and the room had become a swarm of people: Doctors, nurses, paramedics, respiratory therapists, residents, medical students and police. Some were truly part of the trauma team and others came by to help and learn.
The senior emergency doctor took charge. "You, get an airway," she said to one of the other residents. She didn't need to talk to the nurses; they had already swooped on the man and were busy putting in IV lines, removing clothing and assessing his injuries. She looked at me: "You, put in a femoral line and a chest tube."
Despite all our work we quickly realized we were losing. The senior physician made the quick decision that if we had any hope of getting this man back alive we would need to open his chest right now and try to stop the bleeding. She took a scalpel and cut his left chest wide open right there. A large gush of blood emptied out. She put the rib spreaders in and evacuated more blood. We reached into the man's chest, and she took his heart in both hands and squeezed. This provided a weak pulse. She continued to compress the man's heart, but it was already empty of blood.
We looked for the source of bleeding and found a hole in the man's thoracic aorta, the main blood vessel draining the heart. A large injury here is uniformly fatal. No more heroics could bring him back.
We stopped our resuscitation efforts. "Time of death: 3:45," someone announced.
The commotion stopped. One by one the tubes were disconnected. One by one people filed out of the room. With the pronouncement of death, what had been a noisy and chaotic affair suddenly became very quiet and solemn.
I stood there alone looking down at him again. Such a young age to die, I thought. Will he be missed? Will his death go unnoticed? Will there be justice?
Some would say his life as a homeless man was not worth living. But this man was somebody's son, somebody's brother, and now he's gone forever.
Later I later talked to the police officer involved that night and tried to make sense of why this happened. "Oh we remember Stevie," said the officer who knew the Downtown Eastside well and, as it turns out, remembered our victim from his days on the street.
"Sure, he was in our system for some minor this and that, nothing major at all. He basically pushed his buggy around and collected bottles." He went on to tell me the killer seemed to randomly stab both our victims that night within a few minutes of each other. It sounded like Stevie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I don't pretend to know all the details leading up to his death that night. But I do know he would be alive right now if he had a place to sleep instead of pushing his buggy through the alleys at three in the morning.
Sure, he died because he was stabbed. But let a coroner's inquest state:
This man died because he was homeless.
In my sleep-deprived state the next morning I thought back and realized he certainly wasn't the only homeless person I'd come across at St Paul's lately. I also realized he wasn't the only homeless person I'd watched die.
I thought of the young homeless woman in the intensive care unit dying of overwhelming pneumonia. Another homeless young prostitute stabbed by her john. The homeless man in his 50s mowed down by a car while crossing the street.
I can speak for many other frontline health-care workers when I say this is a growing problem. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. We know there are a lot more homeless in Vancouver than even a few years ago, well over 2,000 as of 2005.
A large number of these individuals cycle through our hospitals at alarmingly high rates because they suffer disease, infection and trauma at rates much higher than the general population.
We also know that the homeless die at rates much higher than the housed population, mostly from trauma and infection. According to recent research from Toronto, the risk is even higher for young women.
We talk about smoking doubling your risk of dying of lung cancer. But if you're a young woman, not having a roof over your head increases your risk of death ten-fold.
It is only somewhat encouraging to hear of recent government initiatives pledging more resources for the homeless. The current reality is that our present administrations have only witnessed the problem get worse.
As the homeless dig in to face what is being heralded as the coldest winter in years, we as front-line health care workers add our voices to those calling on all levels of government to address the problem of homelessness with renewed urgency.
We also appeal for social housing resources specifically for those homeless recovering from illness or an operation. We want there to be somewhere they can safely go if they survive their illness or trauma and are ready to leave hospital. We can't be expected to send them back to the streets with fresh wounds, infections and the like.
Michael Goodwin is a resident in the department of surgery, faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.
(c) The Vancouver Sun 2008
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| Headlines for Feb 20, 2008 |
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posted by Poverty Reduction Coalition on
TUESDAY, APRIL 08, 2008
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Headlines
§ Winnipeg - Homeless crisis looms
§ Calgary - Housing prices may rise despite drop in construction values
§ Regina - Housing builds inflation
§ Province of BC - Support for homeless
§ How the budget can fight poverty
§ Foreclosure crisis opens doors for U.S. homeless; Some squatters are finding shelter in properties left vacant by mortgage defaults, but some remain wary of the mounting risks
§ Grande Prairie suffering effects of uncontrolled growth; City's national ranking fell from fourth to 99th in one year
§ Calgary - Homeless served feast on Family Day
§ Manslaughter charge laid in Calgary homeless shelter death
§ Smart housing options for Alberta
§ Calgary - Families struggle despite gains; Debt and high cost of living burden parents
§ Homeless with drug, mental problems helped with subsidized shelter: expert
§ Calgary - Churches target housing crunch; Goal is to offer apartments to low-income families
§ Calgary - Builders help charity
§ BC buys six hotels with 330 rooms to turn into affordable housing
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| Secretariat appointed for plan to end homelessness |
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posted by Alberta News Release on
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
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Edmonton... The province is committed to working with communities to address homelessness over the next 10 years and is appointing members from across the province to the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness.
The focus of the secretariat, which reports to the Honourable Yvonne Fritz, Associate Minister of Affordable Housing and Urban Development, will be to develop and oversee the implementation of a 10-year strategic plan to address homelessness across Alberta. It will work closely with municipalities to co-ordinate and support the development of their community plans to ensure the homeless are receiving the services and support they need.
“I am determined to act on this important issue to help those most in need. This 12-member secretariat will provide a broad base of expertise and knowledge of homeless matters and I am looking forward to working with this dedicated group of individuals,” said Associate Minister Fritz. “All of these members have strong leadership backgrounds, knowledge on housing and homelessness issues and valuable experience relevant to their new role.”
Chaired by Stephen Snyder, President and CEO of TransAlta Corporation, the secretariat has been given a specific mandate and terms of reference to address homelessness in our province. It will also research and implement best practices that have been successful in other jurisdictions. This includes, but is not limited to, projects incorporating the Housing First philosophy, which puts people into stable, permanent housing as soon as possible, and then provides home-based case management services.
To read more: http://alberta.ca/acn/200801/22932A8213A98-ACB0-15A1-AE89B7EBA29B9C00.html
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| Blankets given to Vancouver homeless offer legal advice |
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posted by CBC News on
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
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Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Volunteers in Vancouver are giving the city's homeless a little warmth, and legal information, this holiday season.
Starting Tuesday afternoon, activists began handing out 500 water-proof, high-tech blankets to people in the low-income Downtown Eastside. Printed inside every blanket is an explanation of the rights and protections homeless people have under the law in Vancouver.
The blankets explain that people have a right to be in public spaces and cannot be forced out by security guards. The blankets also note that that people have the right to panhandle, but they can't do so in front of a bank machine and they can't ask a person for money more than once.
The blankets explain that if a person has no money and no shelter, they have the right under B.C. law to ask for an emergency assessment that could get them access to immediate relief. The blankets provide a list of emergency shelters and other contact information.
"We wanted to create a product that would be not only useful on the practical level for someone living on the streets, but also effective as way of informing people about their rights under the law," John Richardson, the executive director of Pivot Legal Society, said in a news release.
Pivot Legal Society, a non-profit law firm that operates in the Downtown Eastside, created the blankets in conjunction with Mountain Equipment Co-op, a retail co-operative that sells outdoor clothing and gear to its members. The blankets cost $30 to make, and have so far been covered by grants from community foundations, as well as donated materials from Mountain Equipment Co-op.
Mountain Equipment Co-op helped design the blankets, which are made of a material that is sturdy and insulating, but light enough to fold up into a small sack. They can be used as a tarp, covering people and their belongings.
The design includes pockets for people's feet, but does not fully zip up, as sleeping bags can be dangerous for a person sleeping on the streets because they can trap the person in the event of an attack, Pivot says.
'It's a reminder of the political side of homelessness'
David Eby, a lawyer with Pivot, hopes the blanket campaign will raise awareness about the homeless situation in Vancouver, where there are only 700 shelter spaces available for the estimated 2,300 people who live on the streets.
"The blankets are three to keep homeless warm and dry, but they also raise public awareness," Eby told CBCNews.ca.
"It's a reminder of the political side of homelessness and the fact that governments could solve the problem if they wanted to."
Eby said Pivot is asking for public donations so that they can distribute even more blankets.
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| City & Province Focused on Ending Homelessness |
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posted by L. Bruder, Admin Assistant Community & Social Development, City of Lethbridge on
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2007
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Lethbridge, Alberta – Social Housing in Action and the City of Lethbridge through Community & Social Development has just completed the 2007 Homeless Census. The preliminary results show homelessness has increased in Lethbridge by 47% from 2005 with a 28% increase from last year’s Homeless Census. A total of one hundred and sixty three (163) individuals including 14 families and 24 children were identified as homeless. Research has also shown that at least 80% of the total homeless population is not visible in the community; resulting in a total count of 815.
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| Number of rough sleepers hugely underestimated, claim Tories |
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posted by Tania Branigan, political correspondent on
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2007
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810 Comments
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Thursday November 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The true number of people sleeping rough in England is almost three times as high as official figures record, the Conservatives have claimed.
Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said his research showed that as many as 1,300 people were sleeping on the streets at any one time - far higher than the 498 noted in government statistics - because only some councils carry out counts.
Most rely on banded estimates - such as 0 to 10 or 11 to 20 - which are then rounded down on the assumption that they usually overestimate the scale of the problem.
But in a report published today, Mr Shapps pointed out that many of the 83 local authorities which carried out counts found their estimates had been too low, not too high.
The 271 which did not carry out counts returned estimates of 0 to 10 - meaning that a total of 0 was recorded for all 271, when it could actually be as high as 2710.
"Now we know that there are nearly three times more people sleeping on our streets each night, I'm calling on the government to recognise the scale of the problem and put measures in place to work with charities and other support services to urgently deal with this unacceptable situation," said Mr Shapps.
Jeremy Swain, chief executive of homelessness charity Thames Reach, said he believed politicians were still committed to helping those on the streets, but that it had become a secondary issue as they focused on tackling the far larger number of homeless people in temporary accommodation.
He added: "The achievement in London has been enormous [since the 1990s], but we need to move on now to having zero rough sleepers in London ... It's my job to remind people that the problem is far from solved."
Mr Swain said there was some evidence that numbers could be rising slightly in the capital. But he argued that research should focus on more detailed information about the needs of rough sleepers, which would show how they could be helped and supported into long term accommodation, instead of concentrating on numbers.
The total has remained broadly consistent since 2003, when ministers reached their goal of a two-thirds cut. The Department of Communities and Local Government said the government had put £90m into hostels over the last few years and was working with charities to improve assessments of homelessness.
Junior housing minister Iain Wright said: "I utterly resent the government's record on homelessness being criticised by the Tories, who presided over soaring levels of homelessness.
"This government has substantially reduced rough sleeping thanks to investment to tackle the problem. The rough-sleeping count was worked out with the voluntary sector and has proved a useful snapshot to track changes in rough sleeping over time."
Adam Sampson, chief executive of the homelessness charity Shelter, said the methodology did not account for all those sleeping rough, but that keeping the same system allowed experts to compare trends.
He warned: "The government has been successful in moving people off the streets, but they are now in an expanded network of hostels, temporary housing and night shelters and they are languishing there because we haven't created move-on accommodation for them."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
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| Affordable Housing & Homelessness Media Monitor - October 23, 2007 |
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posted by as taken from the Poverty Reduction Coalition on
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2007
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AFFORDABLE HOUSING & HOMELESSNESS MEDIA MONITOR
October 23, 2007
Headlines
· The Homeless and Eviction Prevention Fund, set up six months ago to address sky-high rent in booming Alberta, has paid out $16 million for about 19,000 claims across the province. An internal audit by the province last month found three in 10 claims were improperly approved but found no fraud, according to documents obtained by the Edmonton Journal.
· An ambitious national housing program and a strategy to combat poverty is urgently needed to tackle the disaster-like conditions of homelessness and inadequate housing found across the country, a United Nations envoy says. UN's special rapporteur on adequate housing, warned yesterday that Canadians are becoming complacent to the crisis unfolding on the streets and that public attitudes could soon mirror the indifference found in the United States.
· A new online consultation is giving Albertans a chance to share their feedback on the issues and opportunities related to Alberta’s aging workforce. The consultation runs until December 14 and results will be compiled into a summary report to support the development of future policies. http://www.alberta.ca//acn/200710/22363C9B7A6A2-9654-133F-27998958ECDEF793.html
Headlines
• UN housing envoy scolds Canadians; 'Radical shift in policy' needed to tackle crisis, official warns after visit
• Alberta housing fund bleeding money, critic says
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| Native housing receives $4.3-million boost |
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posted by AL BEEBER of The Lethbridge Herald May 25 2007 on
TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2007
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Approval of $4.3 million in funding for affordable aboriginal housing Thursday was a welcome surprise for the Aboriginal Housing in Action Society here.
The provincial Municipal Affairs and Housing department announced the funding as part of a three-year, $49-million Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing Program.
The Lethbridge project called Koh Koonan — or Our Home in Blackfoot — will pay for the construction of 29 units in a 32-unit housing project for low-income aboriginal families.
A release from the province cites the local address for the project as 1102 5 Ave. N. — the former site of Ducan Industries — but housing society officials say it’s only one site being considered.
Harold Beaulieu of the society says it wants to take a low-key approach to the construction and is reluctant to discuss potential sites to prevent negotiations being hurt by neighbourhood objections.
The plan is to build eight fourplexes featuring two- and three-bedroom units. The society will have to come up with another $500,000 to cover the cost of the three units that won’t be covered by the provincial funding.
The society — a partnership between the Sik Ooh Kotoki Friendship Centre and the Metis Nation — was formed two years ago in response to a need to address a housing shortage for aboriginals in the city.
A study released in March shows 40 per cent of city aboriginals struggle with housing costs because of low income. Many of those find it have to deal with substandard living conditions.
“Obviously we’re very pleased as a board we’ve been able to achieve this,” said Beaulieu Thursday.
Jim Short, manager of the housing society, said, “there’s a very limited inventory of affordable housing” in Lethbridge.
Beaulieu calls the housing project “market housing” rather than affordable, saying the latter is income-related, while the former is “for professional aboriginals in transition to the city who can’t get get anything but shacks. Their kids play hockey, they go to PTA meetings, they’re role models and they want to meld in.”
Identifying locations for the housing complex could raise the “Not in My Backyard” flag, the society fears, and hamper negotiations.
Roland Cotton, chairman of the society board, knows first-hand how prejudice can affect an aboriginal’s ability to get housing. He discovered that when he first left his reserve in 1972 to attend college here.
Beaulieu says the units will be built with energy-efficiency and the environment in mind. They will also employ full-time management and maintenance staff.
While the funding is a start, Short says the city could still use between 150 and 300 other units.
The society applied for the funding last fall and was caught off guard when the announcement was made Thursday.
The allocation for Lethbridge was the largest dollar amount handed out by the province.
Other projects ranging in cost from $550,000 to $3 million were also approved for a total of 370 units. They include housing for aboriginal students in Calgary, Edmonton and Lac la Biche and residential units in Grand Cache, Lloydminster and the Bigstone Cree Nation.
© Copyright by Lethbridge Herald.com
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| City eyes millions in housing money |
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posted by By DELON SHURTZ on
MONDAY, MAY 28, 2007
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City officials are applauding the provincial government for kicking in millions of dollars for affordable housing and other municipal projects.
The money is particularly welcome as the city tries to sift through millions of dollars in requests for capital projects, but with a budget nowhere near large enough to satisfy all the requests.
The government will allot $400 million for municipal sustainability initiatives, and $285 million for affordable housing projects. While the money for municipal sustainability is part of the government’s earlier commitment of $1.4 billion, the commitment for affordable housing is new money.
“I’m very encouraged the province has made this a priority,” Tarleck said following the province’s announcement Tuesday.
The city is line for about $7 million over the next two years from the municipal sustainability initiative, of which nearly $3 million can be used for affordable housing. The city will also receive about $2 million through the second capital program to address immediate housing needs.
The remaining money will be used for other capital projects in the city.
“We have a whole host of projects that will be eligible for that,” Tarleck said.
That the city is eligible for the money is a mixed blessing, because although the city can use it, Tarleck wishes the city didn’t need to.
Lethbridge is ranked a category one, which means it is considered a high-growth, high-need community. Tarleck said the city’s population growth is higher than the province’s average of 2.79 per cent; its vacancy rate is lower than the provincial average of 1.7 per cent; and the average rental rate for a two-bedroom apartment is more than $620 a month.
The promised money shows the province is finally listening to municipalities, which have been pressing the government for money to help them battle homelessness. The city presented the government’s task force on homelessness with several recommendations when it appeared in Lethbridge earlier this year, including the need to create a ministry of housing.
The 15-member task force spent 45 days gathering input and compiling the report. It visited nine communities and heard from more than 800 presenters, and received about 600 written submissions.
In addition to the extra money for affordable housing, the province will also introduce amendments in the current session of the legislature to limit rent increases to once a year. And landlords who want to end a tenancy for renovations or to convert a rental unit into a condominium must give at least one-year notice.
Not all the task force’s recommendations have been adopted, however, and some of the most important ones were left out, critics say.
New Democrat Ray Martin, who sat on the task force, said the government rejected a suggestion to introduce temporary rent controls. He said any new subsidies won’t go to the people who need them most, but will end up in the pockets of landlords who can still increase rents.
© Copyright by Lethbridge Herald.com
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