Street Smarts

What is something fundamental you would like people to understand about your patients who live on the streets?

People are not homeless due to personal failures. They are homeless due to decades of poor government decisions and policy failures. Our society has failed them in many, many ways, often from the time they were children. 

Also, I would like people to know that the toxic-drug crisis is not an “us” and “them” issue. It is something that affects all of us, which is why it is labelled a public-health crisis. Some people feel that it isn’t something that is going to affect their family. But that is the same thing that families of many people dying today said 10 years ago.

Your videos take on topics like the “fentanyl fold” that are part of a world many of us wish to turn away from. Why did you decide to explore these sensitive issues?

There is a lot of misinformation and hatred out there. There are loud voices that are not just on social media, but in mainstream media and in government that continue to stigmatize people who are homeless and people with addictions. I have always believed that when it comes right down to it, people are wired to be kind and if they truly understood what my patients go through every day, they would be more kind and compassionate. I hope this can manifest on an individual basis when people see my patients struggling day to day and when they are out voting at their next election as well. Compassion and following the evidence is what will drive meaningful change.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Jill Wiwcharuk MD CCFP (EM) dip ISAM (@streetdrjill)

Your tone is the videos is gentle, assured and never shrill. What is the secret to your success in these videos? How are you hoping to use this newfound influence?

My secret to success lies in my husband, Ron Dick. He is a retired mental-health professional with 25 years of experience working with the same population I work with. I would never have had the capacity (or the guts) to start this project on my own. This is a fully joint project. He does all the filming and editing, he helps with content decisions and writing and he is in charge of making sure that I don’t make a fool of myself in front of 120k followers!

Putting myself out there on social media like this was the most uncomfortable thing I have ever done as a doctor. I didn’t even have an Instagram account before this. Doing it in a partnership with someone I trust as implicitly as my husband was the only way I would have done it.

The colour purple appears in your videos often. Does it symbolize something or is it just a favourite shade?

Purple is the colour that represents overdose awareness.

Your videos have millions of views. Are your patients aware of your popularity and what do they think?

A few of my patients are aware of what I do on social media, but not many. They have so many other competing priorities in life that watching me talk about things they already know all about on Instagram is not high on their list. I did show the video I made about acquired brain injuries to one of my patients who is significantly affected by a brain injury. He watched it, got teary and asked if I could send it to his mom.

What kind of feedback have you received on the videos?

Ron and I initially said we would do this for six months and then re-evaluate. At this point we have received many comments from followers and based on that, we have decided to continue for another six months and then re-evaluate. The comments that are most meaningful are from people with lived experience of homelessness or addictions who reach out and say, “Thank you. For the first time, I feel seen. I am so grateful that you are taking the time to teach people my reality.” And then there are lots of people who say that we are helping them view people with more compassion, that they are feeling their lens shift a bit, that our videos are helping them humanize people who are homeless. This is what makes us continue the work.

Can you speak about the role of stigma as a barrier for your patients?

Can you describe the moment where you realized you would shift from a career of professional musician to healthcare professional?

I was doing volunteer work at a home for children of people with leprosy in Kolkata, India. I was spending a year there teaching them music, English, starting a computer program and just generally being a loving presence in their lives. Towards the end of my year, there was a huge earthquake in the state of Gujarat and thousands were killed. I immediately reached out to aid agencies asking if there was any way I could help. They told me that all they needed were doctors and nurses. And that was the day I realized I wanted to be a doctor. It seemed like the most practical, hands-on way that I could make a difference for people. It hadn’t even crossed my mind prior to that very day. I remember it so clearly.

Many feel hopeless about and perhaps even fearful of the large number of people struggling with poverty and addiction in our communities. What can we do?

People really need to understand that bad government decisions from as far back as the ‘80s have landed us where we are today. The reality is that things need to change. Densification needs to happen, increased services for people who have been failed by our governments need to happen. The recognition of addiction as a medical issue and not a criminal issue needs to happen. There is no room for NIMBYism anymore. Learn more about the issues and get involved so that you can be behind the fact that, yes, change needs to happen, and it can happen in everyone’s “back yard.”

 You can find Dr. Jill on Instagram. 

 —Jenny Manzer, BA '97