02/10/2025
🟡PAN Stands with Dr. Jess Wilder🟡
By Sarah Pump, PAN Founder and Executive Director
On January 22, Dr. Jess Wilder was placed on administrative leave from her physician lead positions in harm reduction and education, and addiction medicine at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. This leave was a punitive response to Dr. Wilder’s advocacy on behalf of her vulnerable patients.
Dr. Jess Wilder is a co-founder of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy. This organization has set up a series of pop-up Overdose Prevention Sites outside of hospitals on Vancouver Island, protesting the suspension of plans to create Overdose Prevention Centers within 3 hospitals. Wilder’s group is made up of physicians who work with people who use substances. “We’re working to advocate for more compassionate, humane and evidence-based policies around addictions and substance use”.
On February 5, Dr. Wilder resigned from her leadership positions with Island Health.
Dr. Wilder’s resignation letter stated that “advocacy is a core competency of being a physician,” and warned that her sidelining would discourage others “from doing what is right over what is easy.”
“For too long, physicians have been shamefully silent on these matters. In my view, we owe it to our patients to speak up — loudly, when necessary — for the tools and policies needed to help keep them safe,” Wilder’s letter says.
“Regardless of the titles I hold, I will continue to be on the front lines of this crisis, fighting for evidence-based, compassionate care for our patients.”
In December 2024, Dr. Wilder wrote an impassioned plea on behalf of the vulnerable population that she cares for, sharing about how much a warming center was needed in Nanaimo.
https://pananaimo.ca/2024/12/23/lack-of-funded-warming-spaces-in-nanaimo-is-an-emergency/
Her letter showed how much Dr. Wilder cares about her patients and how knowledgeable she is about their needs and the care they require. We need to listen to professionals who are on the front line of our substance abuse crisis, not silence and sideline them.
Poverty Advocacy Nanaimo fully supports Dr. Jess Wilder and Doctors for Safer Drug Policy. I have visited one of the pop-up Overdose Prevention Sites across from Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. The site was welcoming, clean, and calm. Hospital staff were able to walk patients who used substances across the street to the OPS, the patients ingested substances safely and supervised by medical staff, and then returned to the hospital to continue treatment for other health concerns. Sites like this are lifesaving for the substance user. They are also a valuable service for hospital staff who can perform their regular duties without worrying about a patient secretly using a substance in the bathroom and overdosing, or a patient discharging themselves from necessary medical care because they can’t use a substance at the hospital.
Island Health must remedy this mistake.
Countless concerned citizens and organizations are sending letters to Island Health leadership condemning their actions. If you would like to also participate, please consider emailing the following people:
reka.gustafson@islandhealth.ca, ashley.heaslip@islandhealth.ca, randal.mason@islandhealth.ca, CEOExecutiveAssistant@islandhealth.ca, ben.williams@islandhealth.ca, asktheboard@islandhealth.ca, Kathy.macneil@islandhealth.ca, David.butcher@islandhealth.ca, Leah.hollins@islandhealth.ca, hlth.dmoffice@gov.bc.ca; HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca; Theresa.Ho@gov.bc.ca, Evan.Howatson@gov.bc.ca
To read the blog post with links to current news articles on this topic:
https://pananaimo.ca/2025/02/09/pan-stands-with-dr-jess-wilder/
