URBAN LEGENDS: A DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE NURSE BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS BETWEEN
HEALTH CARE AND ACTIVISM

Who: Megan Oleson

What: Registered Nurse, On Site As A Volunteer At The "Safer Injection
Site", Organized By The Coalition For Harm Reduction, At 327 Carrall, Near
Pigeon Park. The site, which is not government sanctioned, opened last week
and has so far welcomed about 15 addicts each night, between 10 a.m. And 2 p.m.

Roots: Raised in victoria, studied nursing there at Camosun College. Has
worked as a community activist with Vancouver's Anti-Poverty Committee, the
Housing Action Committee and the Vancouver Area Network Of Drug Users.

Born In Scrubs: "I Was very sick when I was younger (with hemolitic anemia)
and it was challenging as I was growing up. I spent a lot of time in
hospitals. I have this philosophy that you become what you're most familiar
with."

Beat The Heat: "We opened this space because our needle exchange was
dropping by more than half, and our condom exchange was dropping by more
than half, because of the 41 reallocated policemen in the downtown
eastside. We knew we needed to do something and we needed to do it now .
People aren't accessing clean needles (at needle exchanges). The police
walk by, park their car out on the front. They make their presence known
around here. We pretty much ignore them."

Syringe In One Hand, Protest Banner In Another: Aside from her work in the
downtown eastside, Oleson works as a critical care nurse at Vancouver
General Hospital. "There are a lot of obstacles in nursing. You have to
work really hard for the maximum wage that you get. And there are a lot of
politics involved. That increases your workload by more than a half. It
becomes so physically and mentally demanding. Here I have relationships
with everyone who walks in the door. It's not a medical model. It's a
beautiful thing because it's so much more holistic."

A Room Of One's Own: "A lot of addicts don't want to be rushed. They don't
want to inject alone, and they need access to clean water and rigs and
supplies. Here they aren't going to be harassed, there won't be a million
questions when they come in . There was a woman last night, it was the
first time she had come into the space. She was so happy she could sit at
the table and take her time."

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Oleson cites a report from the BC Centre For
Excellence In HIV/AIDS, In which a majority of polled injection-drug
addicts stated that immediately after a police officer confiscated their
drugs, they scored more. "Policing doesn't prevent drug use, it doesn't
prevent selling drugs. It just clears an open-air market that is visible,
but it pushes it somewhere else. It forces (drug users) into riskier
situations, like further back into the alleys, under the viaduct, or alone
in their rooms."