'We’ll be there': B.C. paramedics urge homeless to call for help when needed

Tents spreading after Hastings Street sweep Vancouver police and city crews were back conducting street sweeps along East Hastings Street Monday.

Whether they’re in the East Hastings corridor, on the edge of city parks, or tucked into side streets, the paramedics’ union is urging Vancouver’s homeless population to call for medical help when they need it.

While some tents and makeshift shelters are erected on East Hastings and quickly targeted by police and city crews, a small shantytown dismantled at Vanier Park has been rebuilt, and more displaced homeless people are establishing themselves around Oppenheimer Park – as well as other areas that may not have clear addresses or even street names.

“Our emergency dispatchers and call takers and 911 call operators are very good at triaging and being able to get the information out of people, where they're located or cross streets -- how close are you to a sign or what street are you on,” said Troy Clifford, president of the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C.

“(We) are not there to judge, we're just there to help our patients regardless of how underprivileged they are or in the situations they are. We’ll be there.”

RIPPLE EFFECTS ACROSS THE CITY

The Vancouver Park Board tells CTV News they’re seeing more tents throughout the city since the Hastings decampment last week, but that they aren’t seeing a major presence in any parks at this point.

“Park rangers do and have requested compliance with the Parks Control byaw, which allows for temporary overnight sheltering in parks, but asks that shelters must be taken down and moved by 8 a.m. each day,” wrote a spokesperson in an email.

The City of Vancouver claims that “while some shelters have been at capacity, there have been spaces available every night in the system” but several shelter operators and homeless people CTV News has spoken with insist that’s not the case. The 211 system is regional, with listings as far east as Hope; some people simply give up after lining up and being turned away multiple times.

It’s important to note, senior leaders at city hall anticipated there would be more tents in other parts of the city as a result of the decampment, but emphasized there was already a larger homeless population outside the Downtown Eastside.

STUDY FINDS DECREASED LIFE EXPECTANCY

The ongoing street sweeps in the wake of Wednesday’s major decampment come as researchers publish a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association warning of dire health risks to the homeless.

“Population-Level Health Effects of Involuntary Displacement of People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness Who Inject Drugs in US Cities” scrutinized real-world data from 23 cities, including Seattle, and estimated a 25 per cent increase in deaths and a shorter life expectancy over a 10-year period.

“If people are continually exposed to the risk of sweeps and traumatic displacement, their risk of overdose goes up, their risk of fatal overdose goes up, their risk of infective endocarditis – a serious heart valve infection -- and skin and soft tissue infections, they both go up as well,” said infectious disease physician and lead study author, Dr. Joshua Barocas, echoing the concerns of the B.C.'s Hospital Employees’ Union.

He said that the same issues of homelessness, mental illness, substance use disorder, trauma, and poverty affecting Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are leading to encampments in the United States, with housing the key factor in improving health outcomes of all kinds.

“Once people are in long-term, stable housing, many things fall into place,” said Barocas. “There's a cascading effect that can happen.”