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Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation 

Vancouver physician leaves legacy for those most in need

The Dr. Peter Centre is the legacy of Dr. Peter Jepson-Young, a young Vancouver physician who brought a human face to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1990 when he chronicled his daily struggles with AIDS on Canadian national television. Shortly before his death in 1992, he established the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation to provide comfort care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Dr. Peter Centre is the only HIV/AIDS day health program and 24-hour care residence in B.C. The Centre took up temporary residence in St. Paul’s Hospital until it was able to open its own facility in downtown Vancouver in September 2003.

The Centre serves those people with HIV/AIDS who are most in need — people who contend with multiple life challenges: poverty, other disabilities, mental illness, addictions and histories of sexual abuse and violence. Some have experienced periods of homelessness in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. All have limited social supports. These individuals are most at risk of deteriorating health, and the Centre offers them access to vital support services, medications and proper treatment. Above all, it treats them with dignity and respect.

The Shooting Stars Foundation funding goes toward operating costs for both the day program and the residence. The day program, which has over 20,000 participant visits per year, provides a host of services to help clients improve their quality of life and keep them out of the hospital: nursing care, nutritious meals, health education, harm reduction programs, counselling, recreational therapy and therapeutic bodywork. It also offers basic living amenities such as laundry facilities and showers. All services are client-driven, meaning that the clients decide on the kind of care they want and when they need it.

The residence consists of 24 assisted-living suites with 24-hour nursing care. Residents also have access to all day program services.

In the hallways of the Dr. Peter Centre, it’s not uncommon to hear a client say that the Centre saved their life.

Still, more British Columbians than ever are ill with HIV/AIDS, and the Centre isn’t able to meet the growing demand for HIV/AIDS care in the community. The Shooting Stars Foundation funding is also helping the Dr. Peter Centre to work toward its goal of increasing its day programs from five days to seven days a week.