A group of medical students in Prince George is trying to make a positive impact with the city’s unhoused community.
Chelsea Tancon and Kathryn Haegedorn, second year students in the UBC Northern Medical Program at UNBC, have started up a local Municipal Advocacy Committee (MAC), part of the extracurricular Medical Undergraduate Society at UBC, which helps students support and work together toward positive goals.
Tancon said she and Haegedorn were discussing how Prince George is at the intersection of a lot of provincial and national issues specifically relating to the overdose crisis and the unhoused population, when they decided to get the committee up and running again.
“We were talking about those issues broadly and locally and we thought let’s stop talking and do something,” said Tancon.
“I think a lot of people care and want to do something, it's just knowing what to do, and I think [Kathryn] and I were in that boat for a little while.”
They soon began making connections with local organizations like the Central Interior Native Health Society (CINHS) and Uniting Northern Drug Users (UNDU) to find out how they could help.
“We want to use our undeserved platforms as medical students, which is a platform society gives you when you stumble into medical school, and wanted to use our voices and that platform to counteract some of the harms that we see,” explained Tancon.
This weekend, the group hosted their second event, a harm reduction workshop, giving students an introductory course on wound care as well as naloxone training.
About 60 students from the Northern Medical Program, nursing program, as well as physiotherapy and occupational therapy programs, attended the workshop which spanned two days.
“We heard there was a need for wound care training and so that is where we got the idea to do workshops for students,” said Tancon, explaining the goal is for students to be able to volunteer at warming centres and talk about education around preventative wound care.
The workshop, which was led by nurses, focused on five scenario-based stations with four stations on wound care and a fifth for naloxone training.
Tancon said they are hoping to plan volunteer opportunities or shadow shifts at the Needle Exchange, as well as with CINHS healthcare professionals who do outreach and harm reduction.
“It was a good opportunity to have some interprofessional collaboration,” said Haegedorn.
“The goal is for people to get comfortable with these types of things, especially with naloxone training. A lot of people understand the theory behind it, and they know what naloxone is, but they have never had practice using it.”
The weekend prior, the group held its first event, which was a warm clothing drive and community BBQ for and with the unhoused downtown. Medical students as well as physiotherapy students worked with the CINHS to set up outside the courthouse where they shared warm drinks, warm clothing, and good conversation.
They accepted donations of warm clothing from students and staff in the department of medical sciences, which they gave out while serving hot dogs and pulled pork sandwiches, as well as, hot chocolate and coffee donated from the Tim Horton’s on Victoria St.
“I know for me I was completely blown away last weekend at our BBQ by what a great community it is downtown. Part of it is the people who work downtown and what they do to make life better for those people is pretty amazing,” said Haegedorn.
“Just getting out there and talking to people is incredibly important because there is a lot of negative stigma around unhoused people and folks that are using drugs,” said Tancon.
“I think counteracting that is hugely important especially for people who are going into these healthcare professions where we will have so much influence over people’s care on their health journeys.”
Tancon also noted that at least 70 per cent of the unhoused population in Prince George is Indigenous and, becasue of anti-Indigenous racsim in healthcare, making those connections with medical students who are demonstrating respect and kindness can have a positive impact.
“With the huge issue of anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare I think that is another really important thing for healthcare practitioners to counteract in ourselves early on in our training and I think this is an opportunity to do that as well."
As the committee received an incredibly positive response from its first BBQ and clothing drive, from both students and the unhoused community, the group is planning on hosting a second BBQ in February.
“I think it is really encouraging to see that there’s so many students who are interested in using their platform for something that is positive,” said Haegedorn.
“I think the earlier that we can get these conversations going the better off the healthcare system will be in the future, for everyone.”
