TWO LIGHTS IN THE DARK

Ex-Junkies Credit Safeworks Nurses With Helping Them Beat Their Addictions

In their darkest hours, Diane Nielsen and Virginia Wheeler are always
there for Calgary's less-fortunate folks.

They've got condoms.

They've got clean needles.

And most of all, the two city nurses have big hearts and shoulders.

Just ask Jane, a Calgarian, who -- along with her husband -- kicked a
three-year cocaine habit with the help of Nielsen, Wheeler and their
harm-reduction program called Safeworks.

"Thank God they were there," said Jane through tears about the
Calgary Sun and Calgary Health Region's Nurses of the Month for November.

"If not, we would've wound up with AIDS or worse -- maybe dead. They
educated us, supported us and never judged us, no matter how bad it
got with the addiction."

Certainly, it got bad with injections every day that stole all their
money and caused them to contract hepatitis C from sharing needles.

But Nielsen and Wheeler took on the task to cure the couple.

Safeworks provided Jane and her husband separate treatment programs,
helping them to bridge the gap from the time they left the street to
becoming the contributing Calgarians they are today.

"I was emotionally and spiritually spent, but they made it much
easier to handle," said Jane, now 41 and seven years clean.

"It's almost like we didn't want to disappoint them, and they were
always there."

Safeworks, instituted in 1989, is an HIV and hepatitis education and
prevention program.

The program, funded by the CHR and Alberta Community HIV Fund, gives
out flu shots, condoms and clean needles to anybody who comes through
their doors.

It also provides pregnancy testing, hepatitis and sexually
transmitted diseases testing, and support and counselling to battle
drug and alcohol addictions.

"We are a program that tries to reduce the harm in people at high
risk for HIV, hepatitis and STDs, and we do that in a number of
ways," Nielsen said.

"The people at risk are drug users, people involved in prostitution,
street youth and the homeless, and we try to provide them with
resources and education to keep them free of disease. And we also
provide them with support to make a positive change if that's what
they want to do."

Safeworks, which employs 10 nurses and three social workers, has many answers.

Nielsen and Wheeler co-ordinate the program out of three offices --
rent-free property at the Salvation Army, the Calgary Drop-In Centre
and the 8th and 8th Health Centre.

Nightly they run a mobile office out of the Safeworks van, which hits
the hot spots around Calgary to deliver service to clients on the street.

Last year alone, Safeworks touched more than 7,500 Calgarians,
including 700 new to the program, by offering support ranging from
simple medical attention to drug and HIV counselling.

Harm reduction, say the nurses, is Safeworks' main aim.

"Our goal is to make all the risks less for people at high risk for
STDs and hepatitis, and we've met some who started injecting
themselves with drugs at age eight," Wheeler said. "But for someone
to get clean, they've got to want to do it."

At the outset, Safeworks was not well-received by the community. Many
believed it advocated sex and drug injections.

But with leadership from co-ordinators such as Nielsen, a B.C. native
and nursing graduate of the University of Ottawa, and Wheeler, a
born-and-bred city woman who graduated from the University of
Calgary's nursing department, the program has gained widespread
acceptance for its commitment to safe practice and education.

"I love this population, and it just felt right to do this kind of
work," said Wheeler, who moved to Safeworks 15 years ago after
working for the Calgary Urban Project Society.

"Everybody has value."

And everybody deserves a fighting chance, said Nielsen, a 10-year
employee of Safeworks after plying her trade in B.C., Manitoba,
Ontario, Germany and the Alberta Children's Hospital.

"A lot of the people we treat don't have any support systems but us
because of the situations they're in," Nielsen said.

"We're the only contact they have. A lot of people think the job we
have is sad, but it's not. Even if you help someone stay clean for
three days after seeing them use every day for six months, that's a success.

"And then you see a couple like Jane and her husband -- that's a real
success story."