Well, yes, great, but in the last line of this report are the causes of the disproportionate rates of oral cancer in the DTES - no dental service being one. Yes, a free clinic will pull a tooth if you are in pain, but not give you a free cleaning. So where is the money and other resources for that? The DTES malaise is stuck at the band-aid stage, throw dollars at the results of a problem, and prevention of the problem itself seems to be beyond anyone's vision. See housing, addictions, mental health, poverty, nutrition (on welfare...huh), well being, isolation, and the same tired unimaginative approach continues.
 
Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

VANCOUVER - The BC Cancer Agency is launching a free mobile screening program in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, where one out of 150 residents is thought to suffer from oral cancer, compared with a provincial rate of one in 10,000.

"We're taking a proactive approach and screening for oral cancer in populations of people more likely to get this cancer," said Health Minister George Abbott.

"The chances of survival are greatly increased if the cancer is detected early."

Dr. Catherine Poh, an outreach program leader with the agency's oral cancer prevention program, said a more intensive, closer-to-home approach for care is necessary to ensure people seek screening and treatment.

"One in 10,000 British Columbians is diagnosed with oral cancer annually, but the incidence rate is alarmingly higher for residents of the Downtown Eastside, where one in 150 suffers from oral cancer," Poh said.

"There is an urgent need to reach out to this community with strategies that will help prevent and identify disease at early stages when it is easier to treat."

"Our goal is to make access to screening easy," said Dr. Miriam Rosin, director of the program.

The increased risk for oral cancer among the downtown residents is thought to be due to heavy tobacco and alcohol use, compromised immune function, poor nutrition and poor oral hygiene, and limited access to dental care.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008

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Globe editorial

The rights of drug addicts

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

May 29, 2008 at 6:09 AM EDT

Insisting that a Vancouver clinic be allowed to provide potentially life-saving supervision for heroin and cocaine addicts to inject their drugs, as a British Columbia judge did this week, is the right thing to do. It's right as a policy choice, but it's also right as a use of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect addicts from the arbitrary reach of the criminal law.

Kamloops, B.C. -- In disagreeing with the B.C. Supreme Court judge's decision to protect Vancouver's safe-injection site, Margaret Wente argues that the real solution is to stigmatize the "crack whores" like we do the smokers, for their own good. Isn't the logic a little loose here? Society stigmatizes the act of smoking because it thinks smokers should know better. Society stigmatizes "crack whores" because it thinks they are a pathetic bunch less worthy of kindness and support. How many readers can honestly say they see humanity in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside?

Human dignity is a value central to our Constitution. It informs and is informed by every Charter right we know. Thus, Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield was not creating a "constitutional right for addicts to shoot up"; rather, he was recognizing that our community's collective dignity was being threatened by our government's disregard for human life.

Feature: Western Hemisphere's Only Heroin Maintenance Program Coming to an End