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A modern prefabricated
building sits in a parking lot in one of Canada’s poorest
neighborhoods, the modern parallel to finding a treasure chest
in the middle of a jungle. The treasure is called Sheway and
the recipients of its bounty are pregnant women with substance
abuse problems who live in or frequent Vancouver’s downtown
eastside.
The centre was created through a partnership between four organizations—Vancouver/Richmond
Health Board, Vancouver Native Health Society, and the Ministry
of Child and Family Development. Sheway is an appropriate name
for this drop-in centre—it means “growth” in Coast
Salish. It started in 1993 in response to the needs of pregnant
and parental women living in or frequenting this impoverished
area—women entrenched in the way of life of the eastside.
Walking through its streets becomes a lesson in urban poverty:
it is common to see drug dealers and addicts, drunken street
brawlers, beggars, people passed out on the sidewalks in broad
daylight, and men and women soliciting "customers"
to support drug and alcohol addictions.
With an average of 100 female clients at any given time who are
pregnant or have a child under the age of 18 months, Sheway works
to promote a healthier pregnancy and positive parenting experience.
Before the program was started, most of these women were not
receiving prenatal care and babies were apprehended immediately
because of their mother’s substance abuse. Sadly, their
statistics show that 75 per cent of these women are Native. Some
of the issues that women faced back then and now are: homelessness,
food and nutritional deficiencies, lack of social support, violence
from a partner, working on the street, unplanned pregnancy, involvement
with the law, mental illness, and finally, their children being
apprehended by child welfare because of an unstable home life.
To assist women in such dire life situations, there is a team
of professionals at Sheway who offer a wide range of holistic
services to women during pregnancy and to their babies up to
the age of 18 months. Its staff is composed of the following:
four Nurses, three Doctors, a Dietetician, an Outreach Worker,
two Social Workers, an Infant Development Consultant, two Alcohol
and Drug Counsellors, a First Nation Support Worker, Office Support
staff and a Project Coordinator.
Sheway takes a woman-centered, harm-reduction, culturally focused
approach to providing services. ‘Harm reduction’ can
be illustrated in this way: a pregnant woman who is taking heroin
by using needles becomes immediately at risk for contracting
HIV and Hepatitis C.
If she is willing to go on methadone, which will stabilize her,
then she will not have to resort to illegal activities to get
her drugs. Withdrawal symptoms are usually treated with substitute
drugs. In this case, methadone is used because it is similar
to heroin, is synthetic (man-made) and its use is legal in Canada.
Street drugs such as heroin have a lot of impurities mixed into
them. The risk of overdosing is greater as one does not know
how much of the drug is cut with ingredients such as rat poison,
baby powder, laxatives, etc. In addition, by using methadone
instead of heroin, the pregnant woman minimizes the risk of miscarriage
involved in stopping heroin use ‘cold turkey’. Her
doctor monitors the dosage, which she picks up at the pharmacy
on a daily basis.
The high-risk lifestyle of substance abusers puts babies at risk
of being born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Effects.
Sheway has the resources to have babies diagnosed and if FAS
or FAE is present, there is access to a Pediatrician, Nurse Clinician,
Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, and Physiotherapist,
who all come to Sheway to work with the mother and child.
The clientele can always count on receiving the basic necessities
that promote a healthy pregnancy: a free nutritious hot meal
is served at lunch from Monday to Friday, there are food bank
hampers containing dry goods such as pasta and canned tuna, as
well as fresh fruits, vegetables and bread. They also give the
women prenatal vitamins and prenatal food, milk and juice vouchers,
and postnatal milk and juice vouchers. Mothers are given maternity
and baby clothes that have been donated to the centre, when available.
Once the baby is born, Sheway offers services to the mother and
child until he/she is 18 months old. For example, there is a
‘well baby clinic’ that provides access to doctor care
and immunizations. They also give mothers free formula, baby
food and, when available, diapers.
Sheway is truly an oasis in Vancouver’s downtown eastside!
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