Reflections on Practice: Pregnant Users

Sarah Payne is the senior practice leader at the Fir Square Combined Care Unit with the BC Women’s Hospital. She describes an open-door harm-reduction philosophy where she and her colleagues advocate for providing support to keep mothers who use drugs and their babies together; she also discusses the effects of illicit drugs on babies.

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Street nurses Caroline Brunt and Sarah Levine find a homeless mother and daughter under a truck. Becky is seriously ill from an injection-related infection and is withdrawing from heroin. Her daughter, Liz, is pregnant and using “rock” cocaine. The nurses struggle to find them housing for the night as they negotiate with Becky to get health care and address her need for drugs.

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Street nurse Elaine Jones hands out coloured condoms and encourages a young woman to get a pregnancy test. Elaine also meets a 16-year-old, new to the city and shooting heroin for the first time, and works to connect her with services.

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Street Nurse Liz James tries to stop Linda, who’s high on drugs, from falling into traffic. Liz offers to help Linda get into an emergency shelter. Linda tells Liz to go away.

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This short documentary is a snapshot of the revolutionary change in status enjoyed by women between the turn of the 20th century and 1947. The film notes the significance of this evolution, highlighting women who today command respect as leaders in government, industry, science and the arts. Women's organizations and leaders, among them Senator Cairine Wilson, symphony orchestra conductor Ethel Stark and Madame Thérèse Casgrain, discuss the challenges of their times.

The nurses meet Becky, give her a mouth pieces for a crack pipe, and chat about her pregnant daughter, Liz. Later, they meet Tracey in a hotel and discuss her upcoming test results.

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Street nurse Liz James explains how to work with someone who’s in an unsafe situation but doesn’t want help.

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Street nurses Caroline Brunt and Janine Stevenson, nursing ethicist Paddy Rodney, and nursing-practice consultant Mary Adlersberg talk about the importance of learning and legitimizing nursing harm-reduction practices.

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Natural helper Tina and peer outreach worker Earle Crow talk about how they bridge the gap between the street community and the nurses.

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This short documentary presents 5 women from a variety of backgrounds who use strategy, humour and determination to seek to attain equality in the workplace. Whether in the public service or on the shop floor, discrimination against women is taking on increasingly subtle forms, which makes it even more difficult to tackle and eliminate. Various obstacles combine to hold back the advancement of women in many sectors, particularly in middle management positions, where we are seeing the emergence of a new “female ghetto.”

Street nurse Caroline Brunt and nursing-practice consultant Mary Adlersberg offer safety strategies for nurses working on the streets.

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