He who knows the addiction know medicine

Title : He who knows the addiction know medicine

Abstract:

Persons with Substance Use Disorder are subject to a host of medical, psychiatric and social conditions that predispose to SUD and/or complicate it. These conditions negatively impact quality of life, and all to frequently can end life if not recognized and addressed.

Many persons with SUD do not find the health care system user friendly.  There may be visits to the ER and to walk in clinics but often their “Addiction Doctor” is the only consistent source of medical care – the only doctor who knows them.  If that doctor knows only addiction they are in big trouble.

This presentation will provide an overview of some of the common, and somewhat less known, conditions that afflict persons with SUD.  It has been erroneously said that the first goal of Addiction Medicine is to  help the patient  achieve sobriety.  That is the second goal.  The first goal is to have the patient survive long enough to achieve sobriety.

Biography:

He is Medical Director of the Prince Albert Cooperative Health Centre, a family practice clinic where non HIV positive patients receive care for the SUD. He is lead physician at Access Place, a centre that houses the sexual health, BBV clinics and the needle exchange. He is lead physician at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, where he and five of his colleagues have provide medical care for inmates for about fifteen years. He is clinical assistant professor in Family Medicine.