'Suffering for years': Advocates call on B.C. to improve health supports for adults with eating disorders
A Vancouver Island advocacy group is calling on the B.C. government for better access to safe and timely supports for adults with eating disorders.
Members of Vancouver Island Voices for Eating Disorders (VIVED) held a rally at the B.C. Legislature on Tuesday afternoon, marking the last day of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week for 2023.
"The theme this year is 'transforming asks into action.' For us, that really meant it was important to go public and to be demanding action from our health authorities and from our ministries," said VIVED member Celeste Macevicius.
"We’re really asking for better engagement of people with lived and living experience with eating disorders to be involved," she said.
"We’ve been trying. We write policy briefs and we try to set up meetings and we keep getting excluded or dismissed."
VIVED is calling on the province for more funding and education, to create community support groups, and to fund team-based treatment options that would include dietitians, counsellors and general practitioners.
The group says eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness in B.C., and that waiting for adequate treatment is costing people their lives.
"And there’s many more who are suffering for years who have had to quit their jobs, who have had to quit their community commitments, who are leaving their families," said Macevicius.
"One of my closest friends waited three months for a bed. She’s on palliative care right now and suffering to such a high degree that would not have been necessary if there had just been adequate, safe and accessible services for her," she said.
At Tuesday’s rally, members of VIVED displayed 20 painted rocks in memory of loved ones who died of eating disorders before the age of 60.
The group says it will keep holding rallies and writing policy briefs to put pressure on the province for change.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Budget 2024 'likely to be the worst' in decades, former BoC governor says
Without having seen it, former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge believes that Tuesday's 2024 federal budget from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is 'likely to be the worst budget' in decades.
What's at stake for Canada after Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel
Following the Iranian missile and drone strikes against Israel over the weekend, Canada should take the threat of Iran and potential escalation of the conflict seriously, one global affairs analyst says.
Former B.C. school trustee's 'strip-tease artist' remark was defamatory, judge rules
A controversial former school trustee from B.C.'s Fraser Valley who described a political rival as a "strip-tease artist" during an election campaign has been ordered to pay her $45,000 for defamation.
'A sense of urgency': Sask. man accused of abducting daughter calls himself to the stand during trial
Michael Gordon Jackson, the man on trial after being charged with contravention of a custody order for allegedly abducting his daughter in late 2021 to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, called himself to the stand Monday.
Kingston, Ont.'s Aaliyah Edwards drafted into WNBA
After four years at the University of Connecticut, Edwards was selected sixth overall by the Washington Mystics in the WNBA draft Monday night.
NASA confirms mystery object that crashed through roof of Florida home came from space station
NASA confirmed Monday that a mystery object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was a chunk of space junk from equipment discarded at the International Space Station.
A knife attack in Australia against a bishop and a priest is being treated as terrorism, police say
Horrified worshippers watched online and in person as a bishop was stabbed at the altar during a church service in Sydney on Sunday evening.
Body of 14-year-old boy pulled from Lake Ontario, police say he drowned while swimming
The body of a 14-year-old boy has been pulled from Lake Ontario after police say he drowned while swimming near Ashbridges Bay Park on Sunday night.
'Rust' armourer gets 18 months in prison for fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on set
A movie weapons supervisor was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of 'Rust.'