DR. PETER CENTRE DIDN'T KNOW

To The Editor:

Your article regarding the Dr. Peter Centre's supervised injection
service incorrectly conveyed that the Dr. Peter Centre did not
receive a Section 56 Exemption because it failed to include a
document about the building's security system ("City's other safe
injection site operating without federal permission," Sept. 8). In
accepting the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority invitation to be
part of the Vancouver Supervised Injection Site Scientific Study, the
Centre submitted all required documentation to VCHA for the Health
Canada application process. VCHA and the Dr. Peter Centre learned
only recently from Health Canada that the Section 56 application for
the Centre had not been fully executed.

As your article noted, the Dr. Peter Centre initiated its supervised
injection service in February 2002 based on the College of Registered
Nurses of B.C. clarification of scope of practice for registered
nurses. As an employer, the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation will ensure the
Centre's registered nurses can practise according to the standards of
practice set out by their regulatory body. Anything less would be
failing to meet the Foundation's obligations to the Centre's nurses,
and to the clients who give themselves intravenous injections.