DOC A WILD LOOK AT STREET NURSES

One moment more than any other in Nettie Wild's documentary about
Vancouver's street nurses explains the difficult line these dedicated
people walk every day.

The film, called Bevel Up, is typical of the work Wild has done over
the years. Whether she and Kirk Tougas, her cinematographer, are
shooting scenes of guerillas in Chiapas, revolutionaries in the
Philippines, or junkies on the streets in Vancouver, we see an
intimacy that speaks of dedication to the subject matter.

This particular piece is different from the rest. It is a
collaboration involving Wild and the street nurses. And it is intended
as a teaching tool directed at people considering one of the most
precarious corners of the profession.

Still, it's as compelling in its story line as anything Wild has
turned out. The moment I'm referring to involves Caroline Brunt, the
street nurse who dreamed up this project, Becky, a junkie with a
36-year addiction to heroin and her pregnant, addicted daughter Jill.

All three are in the Street Nurses' van heading first to a welfare
office then to a fast food joint and off to a homeless shelter. Becky
has been sick for days, wracked with infections and withdrawing from
heroin.

Between Brunt and Becky, it's decided what Becky needs most
immediately is some "down," another fix of heroin. Becky has the
heroin on her but she needs a syringe and water in which to mix the
powdered drug. Brunt provides that.

So here we have a public servant, dedicated to helping our most
wretched citizens, in a government vehicle with someone in possession
of an illegal substance about to perform an illegal act. At which
point Brunt pulls the van over and says: "Becky, you know I'd feel
more comfortable if you did that heroin outside the van."

There was neither debate nor disagreement. Becky fixes and they carry
on, adding a health clinic to their itinerary.

This isn't just a story about Brunt and Becky. A dozen street nurses
funded by the province work the streets of Vancouver. Their primary
goal is to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.
An in the process they bring comfort and a degree of respect to the
people they treat.

Throughout you realize how non-judgmental Brunt and her colleagues
are. It is, she explains, the only way to build trust with this
population of desperate, drifting and addicted people. One nurse chats
up street kids about their drug use, commiserating with a 16-year-old
over the bad morning the teen suffered after her first hit of heroin
the night before. She also hands out condoms and asks one girl if she
needs a pregnancy test.

Another nurse has a sex trade worker in the van stripped down to her
bare bum. And while the prostitute sings "Joy to the world" to take
her mind off the pain, the nurse injects her with antibiotics to deal
with syphilis.

And at every turn there is this incredible warmth, and an amazing
amount of consultation with patients about treatment. One junkie
taking a blood test injects the syringe himself because, as the nurse
says, he knows his veins better than she does.

Incidentally, the title of the film, Bevel Up, comes from the fact
that syringe tips are cut on a bevel. As one nurse explains to a
junkie, injecting yourself with the "bevel up" does less damage to
your veins.

The DVD of the film is formatted so that it can be watched straight
through or it can be stopped after each chapter and the viewer can
click on testimonials from nurses, not just from the city but from up
country too, about their work with drug-addicted patients.

If Bevel Up isn't being distributed to every nursing school in the
country it should be. If you want to see it, and meet Wild and Brunt,
there are screenings Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Vancity
Theatre on Seymour.