“I go home each night knowing I’ve done something good for the world,” says Sarah Sullivan of working for AIDS Vancouver Island.
Photo by Bommer Jerritt
Sarah Sullivan’s bright, cheery and upbeat manner and bearing render it difficult to comprehend that she spends her working days dealing compassionately with some of the most physically distressed people in the Comox Valley community.
On top of that seemingly grim reality, Sullivan, counselor/advocate for the Courtenay office of AIDS Vancouver Island (AVI), loves what she does as much as she cares for her client base. Those factors alone make her a natural for what she does. One thing that any service provider learns, if he or she is to survive without burnout, is to assume a certain objectivity and to not see the world solely through the eyes of the client.
Sullivan, who has been at the helm of the AVI office on Sixth Street in Courtenay for a little over a year, took to her role with enthusiasm. It’s an enthusiasm based on her familiarity with both the philosophy and the protocols of a facility that is virtually unknown to many residents in the community. That it is largely unknown is somewhat by design—this has kept the place, especially with its emotionally-charged (for some) ‘needle exchange’ away from community controversy.
In that, the Comox Valley AVI needle exchange has not been fraught with all the controversies that have faced the Victoria needle exchange. This is by design, Sullivan is quick to observe.
“We’ve been in this location for nine years,” Sullivan says. “Fortunately for us we have a great landlord. But, the essential point is we’re not visible. Access to needle exchange services is via the back door, not the street. Furthermore, what we find here is that the community accepts us as being a part of the public health strategy. Our goal is to promote a healthy community and it’s vital to us to maintain a good relationship with our neighbors.”
So, what’s a nice girl like Sarah doing in a job like this? Well, primarily she does it because she loves it.
“Generally, I like being in the background,” she says. “People who need to know about me, know about me. I’ve been a permanent employee for over a year. (In fact, she is the only full-time employee of the Courtenay facility; there is one part-timer, Jeanette, as well, and all others who work there are strictly volunteers). I came here first in April 2007 as a practicum student for 10 weeks with (her predecessor in the position) Phyllis Wood. After that I worked as a casual here.”
When Wood left last year, Sullivan competed for the position and got it. Prior to coming on board she worked as a suicide prevention trainer at Crossroads Crisis Centre. She still volunteers at Crossroads as a skills trainer.
Her involvement with human services comes to her later in life, she says. Her background is highly eclectic and she has served for extensive periods in other realms. This background, she believes, has enhanced her role today because it has given her ability to look at a number of issues that impact those seeking assistance from AVI.
“I worked for the federal government, for Transport Canada for a number of years,” she says. “Later my husband (her high school sweetheart, she notes) and I ran a home-based publishing business. In that area it really opened my eyes to the challenges faced by people with disabilities.”
In all of this, raising a family intervened, which made the home-based business ideal at that time. But, after her third daughter was born, she decided to go back to school and complete her truncated education. She began in the Women’s Studies program at North Island College and completed her associate degree through Thompson River University. Next year she gets her social work degree from the University of Victoria.
“Some background in finance has really helped me in this role,” she says. “I know what it’s like to live on a low income and can relate to people who are disenfranchised through health problems and challenges. And it’s in overcoming these obstacles that some of the people I work with amaze me. I am astonished at the inner resourcefulness of some people. Believe me, in this job I always take home more than I give.”
Sullivan is a Comox Valley girl to the core. Her mother is vegan author and longtime Comox District Free Press food columnist, Bryanna Clark-Grogan. Furthermore, she met her husband when they were both students at Vanier and the rest, for them, is history. Having spent virtually all her life here, it’s a delight for her to have a meaningful position in her home community.
The work of the AVI facility is multi-faceted, Sullivan says. Primarily it is a combination of three broad elements: education, prevention and support. The needle exchange operates five days a week and is primarily designed to abate the spread of HIV and Hepatitis-C in the community. Of the two afflictions, she notes that Hep-C is a source of greater concern than HIV—despite myths to the contrary—and is much more easily transmitted, especially among IV needle-using addicts.
“Here we need to look at many options,” she says. “Our role is not simply to hand out needles. We have to look realistically not just at the client, but anyone else concerned, like partners and family members. They all need support. With HIV it has changed immeasurably from the horrific early days when HIV almost always led to AIDS, with its often-inevitable lethal consequences. With new medications it is quite possible to live a normal lifespan and be HIV-positive. Fortunately, some of the best doctors in the HIV field are in BC.”
Hep-C, however, is a truly dangerous affliction. Spread by blood-to-blood contact (hence the ‘dirty needle’ connection), it can be asymptomatic for as long as 20 years. In that, she says people truly need to be aware of the risks and to also know there are treatment options. In that realm, AVI Courtenay calls on the expertise of Jeanette Reinhardt, who offers her services in both Courtenay and Campbell River. She is the educator who helps clients deal with the realities of HIV and safer sex, among other things.
AVI Courtenay (there are also offices in Campbell River, Victoria, Nanaimo, and Port Hardy) is a holistic operation wherever possible, Sullivan says, and works in tandem with other service providers in the community.
“We’ve been involved in working with the homeless and those at risk of homelessness,” she says. “We’re especially concerned when the cold weather comes. We’re involved with cold weather outreach in a joint project with Wachiay in which we bring sandwiches, tents, tarps, coats and so forth to the people that need them. The project has been running for five years and has been very successful. We plan to get it going again this year and will run it from November through March.”
Sullivan says that they keep a supply of heavy coats and tents at the facility, but that they always welcome donations of those items should anybody be interested in offering them up.
Other areas of service to the community in need include their hot lunch program, provided (entirely by donated food) every Tuesday.
“If you’d like to join our ‘shopping angels’, please call me,” says Sullivan. “We always welcome all the help we can get. We go on faith that we will get the help we need, and people have never failed us. For example, a local accounting firm donated a number of backpacks for the homeless. We didn’t request them; they just took it upon themselves to do it. Then, every year there is ‘Dining Out for Life’, with the proceeds going to AVI. It’s just amazing and heartwarming how many restaurants take part. This is a very giving community.”
In that context, Sullivan says, her resolute goal is to promote the feeling of community within the facility.
While the presence of individuals with HIV and Hep-C in the greater community is disquieting for some, especially the less well informed, Sullivan is determined to reach out for the sake of AVI and the clientele, as well as for the Comox Valley community. She keeps in close touch with the wants and needs of the greater community by various interactions, including being a member of the City of Courtenay-sponsored Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee.
AVI works actively with other community agencies in the Comox Valley, and that only serves to the advantage of their clients. In terms of health care, AVI gains client access that brings them into contact with the best the community can offer. In the same context, those agencies offer invaluable aid to the AVI clients, including the public health nurse from the Nursing Centre who regularly tests for STDs with clients and gives inoculations as needed.
“The walk-in clinics in the Comox Valley also do amazing work,” Sullivan says. “And in that case, Maggie from the Nursing Centre acts as intermediary to help clients access the services they need. Fortunately, we in the Comox Valley are blessed with fantastic doctors.”
For those seeking alternate therapies, AVI also has an acupuncturist that comes in on a regular basis to help clients wanting that service.
“There’s a lot of stigma attached to HIV or Hep-C, but I want our clients to know that this is a safe place for them,” she says. “If they need assistance they can find it here. We’re here for them. That’s why I really enjoy coming to work every day. I go home each night knowing I’ve done something good for the world. I love to listen to people’s stories and get to share in their lives.”
For more information about AIDS Vancouver Island call Sarah at 250-338-7400 or visit avi.org