Pijl, Em

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https://opus.uleth.ca/handle/10133/4957

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Browsing Pijl, Em by Author "Pijl, Em M."

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    An overview of forensic drug testing methods and their suitability for harm reduction point-of-care services
    (BioMed Central, 2017) Harper, Lane; Powell, Jeff; Pijl, Em M.
    Given the current opioid crisis around the world, harm reduction agencies are seeking to help people who use drugs to do so more safely. Many harm reduction agencies are exploring techniques to test illicit drugs to identify and, where possible, quantify their constituents allowing their users to make informed decisions. While these technologies have been used for years in Europe (Nightlife Empowerment & Well-being Implementation Project, Drug Checking Service: Good Practice Standards; Trans European Drugs Information (TEDI) Workgroup, Factsheet on Drug Checking in Europe, 2011; European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, An Inventory of On-site Pill-Testing Interventions in the EU: Fact Files, 2001), they are only now starting to be utilized in this context in North America. The goal of this paper is to describe the most common methods for testing illicit substances and then, based on this broad, encompassing review, recommend the most appropriate methods for testing at point of care. Based on our review, the best methods for point-of-care drug testing are handheld infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and ion mobility spectrometry; mass spectrometry is the current gold standard in forensic drug analysis. It would be prudent for agencies or clinics that can obtain the funding to contact the companies who produce these devices to discuss possible usage in a harm reduction setting. Lower tech options, such as spot/color tests and immunoassays, are limited in their use but affordable and easy to use.
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    Restoring the blessings of the morning star: childbirth and maternal-infant health for First Nations near Edmonton, Alberta
    (University of Alberta, 2015) Wiebe, Adrienne D.; Barton, Sylvia; Auger, Laura; Pijl, Em M.; Foster-Boucher, Caroline
    It is not only remote Aboriginal communities in Canada that have poorer maternalinfant health status than Canadian averages; residents of First Nation communities located close to large urban centres also experience this health status gap. Alexander, Alexis, Enoch, and Paul First Nations are located within an hour of healthcare services in greater Edmonton. The narratives of 75 predominantly Cree and Stoney women from these communities were gathered through seven talking circles and five semi-structured interviews. The participants described their experiences of loss and separation as pregnancy care and childbirth moved out of the community and into the hospital over the last two generations. This shift was not only a geographic relocation; it also disconnected the childbirth experience from elders, family and community, traditional teachings, and spiritual meaning. Conversely, the participants’ hospital experiences were characterized by a limited sense of cultural safety. Participants highlighted the urgent need to reintegrate culturally based community support and health perspectives into the childbirth experience. The implementation of such a culturally integrated healthcare model in all Aboriginal communities—remote, rural, suburban, and urban—may be the key finally to closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal maternal and infant health status in Canada.
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    Urban Social Issues Study: impacts of the Lethbridge supervised safe consumption site on the local neighborhood
    (University of Lethbridge, 2020) Pijl, Em M.
    The Urban Social Issues Study (USIS) was a longitudinal study that measured and explored perceptions and observations of social disorder by business owners and operators in downtown Lethbridge over a period of 13 months, a period during which a supervised consumption service was implemented in the study area. The purpose of the study was not to determine if supervised consumption should be a public service in Lethbridge, but rather to explore any unintended consequences of these services.