Truth in Public Health and Shelters of Last Resort

[Guest guest]

I want to focus on that one aspect of your comment below, Elvira, as it gives

us a common thread from hurricane disaster in your part of the world to public

health issues in Vancouver.

" Sick Buildings " ... a very popular online issue now with 1,500 on the lead

list. But sick buildings can be made so by the practices, ie behaviour which

goes on in them as well as impregnations of mould, insects etc. Witness the

unspeakable things that happened to those taking refuge at the New Orleans

Convention Centre. Since it was a " shelter of last resort " what choice did the

victims have?

Here in Vancouver, the Lookout Shelter on Street is also a " shelter

of last resort " . A couple of thousand people every year spend some time there

with the only choice being to sleep on dangerous, destructive and noxious

streets which are as Dr. Blatherwick says, HAZARDOUS TO ANYONE'S HEALTH. Those

streets can also take lives, particularly among those put at risk by mental

illness.

Lookout on is also a popular media focus. For example, last winter

during the cold snap, media from CBCTV, BCTV, Vancouver Courier newspaper and

News 1130 radio were all there.

What is the truth about the administration of Lookout- Street in the

service of public health?

First, VCH, our major public health provider is listed on Lookout's web site

as a source of their funds. It is either A major funder or THE major funder for

the shelter. There are multiple reasons why VCH should consider shelters of last

resort to be in the interest of public health. Consider too that most of the

people staying at the shelter have mental health problems, including that great

killer, CLINICAL DEPRESSION, as in the recent BCTV story. Even if depression is

not the leading line in a medical psychology report, depression is an issue in

most psychiatric diagnoses since it lurks in the background ready to flare up

under triggering conditions. For those who wish to pursue it futher, archives

contain the extensive studies of psychiatrist Teddy Weckowitz at U of A on the

multi-factorial nature of depression.

The " sick building " on Street has daily administrative procedures

built in which can systematically trigger depression, create hazards to public

health and take lives. If VCH is not over-ruled by the political system, why are

its lawyers now vigorously fighting for the " right " to go on sending mentally

ill people out to sleep on streets which are hazardous to the health and which

even carry a significant likelihood of taking their lives? Why does VCH ignore

pleas on behalf of mental patients like those referred to at

http://www.geocities.com/hrtcomplaint .?

Tao

From: elvira52

GLOBALSICKBUILDINGS

Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 1:57 PM

Subject: Re: <GLOBALSICKBUILDINGS> Re: Political Triage in Health and Welfare

TA01 and all others,

Katrina has given all that's good the opportunity for truth telling, and it's

so sad no one is really listing to our cries to the Good Doctor Blatherwick and

Others the people really need to hear the truth about these Health Issues.

clipped

RE: Mould and Public Health Standards in Vancouver

That is a political issue - I don't comment on political issues.

Thank you,

Blatherwick, CM, CD, MD, FRCP©

Chief Medical Health Officer

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority

#800 - 601 West Broadway

Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 4C2

Phone: (604) 714 - 5608

Fax: (604) 736 - 8651

E-Mail: john.blatherwick@...

<http://www.geocities.com/Bugsy_of_Vancouver>