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Article: Close to addiction: professional and personal struggles of a Downtown Eastside doctor.(All That's Left)
- Article from:
- Canadian Dimension
- Article date:
- September 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Canadian Dimension Publication, Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Walking with Dr. Gabor Mate through Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is like being on the arm of the Pope. He knows everyone, and stops, again and again, to chat and check-up on patients and area residents he's come to know over the past decade.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Stepping onto Carrall Street, minutes from his medical clinic, Mate bends down to greet one of his patients, a former nurse named Mary. She sits huddled atop a thin, grey blanket on a urine-soaked sidewalk. Last week, she fled from a nearby drug-treatment facility. It was her sixth attempt to get clean. Oblivious to the cars flying past, Mate urges her to give detox another shot. He knows she ...