Instead of retirement, these two nurses are battling Vancouver's opioid crisis

published on July 5, 2018 by Roberta Staley, in ucobserver

At age 71 and 65 respectively, Evanna Brennan and Susan Giles embrace their unconventional work in the Downtown Eastside.

t is a wet, miserable spring day in Vancouver, with lashings of cold rain turning gutters into creeks. The clock nudges 9 a.m., but outreach nurses Evanna Brennan and Susan Giles have been up for hours, either hitting the gym or going for a brisk walk before stopping to buy buttery croissants and fill their travel mugs with coffee, which they sip through a straw. “Otherwise I’d spill it on myself,” jokes Brennan, wearing a white blouse that would, indeed, show the slightest splatter.
Seated behind the broad desk in their office, located in the Jim Green Residence building on Alexander Street, Giles and Brennan discuss the day’s rounds at apartments, shelters and single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels in the Downtown Eastside.
Nestled between the Vancouver Harbour, Chinatown, gentrified Gastown and the historic neighbourhood of Strathcona, the Downtown Eastside is home to about 20,000 souls, according to the 2016 census. Often referred to as one of Canada’s poorest postal codes, the area deals with drug addiction, mental illness and sex work. Tragically, some residents experience co-morbidities that include HIV-AIDS, diabetes, liver disease and hepatitis C. More than 1,000 people are homeless, some sleeping under the eaves of buildings or in makeshift tents of blue tarpaulin.

The Downtown Eastside also happens to be Brennan and Giles’s beat. At age 71 and 65 respectively, the pair — who are both married, with children or stepchildren and grandkids — embrace their unconventional work. Two years ago, as the principals of Action Based Care Nursing Consultants, they took on a full-time three-year contract with Lookout Housing and Health Society, a charity that provides residency and support services to low- and no-income individuals in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Nothing about the gig turned out to be straightforward, however. Just as they were hitting the streets, the opioid crisis exploded.

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Julio Montaner

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Instead of retirement, these two nurses are battling Vancouver's opioid crisis

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