Events

Street nurses Evanna Brennan, 75, and Susan Giles, 68, have foregone retirement to provide fulltime care to the desperately ill, homeless, alcoholic and drug addicted residents of Vancouver’s poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside. Directed and produced by Roberta Staley. Co-directed and co-produced by Tallulah. Funded by Telus StoryHive.

Biographies
Susan Giles, RN
Susan Giles RN, is a native of Vancouver, BC. From 1990-2012 she teamed up with colleague Evanna Brennan to deliver Home Care Nursing services to a population of marginalized people struggling with drug addiction and HIV/AIDS. Following retirement from Vancouver Coastal Health in 2012, she and Evanna started ABC Nursing Consultants. They have worked part time and full time contracts with Lookout Housing and Health Society from 2012-2023. Susan is a member of the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. In 1999 she was co-recipient (with Evanna Brennan) of CANAC’s Jill Sullivan Award of Excellence in HIV/AIDS Nursing. In 2003 she was co-recipient (with Evanna Brennan) of BC Persons with AIDS Society AccolAIDS Award for Health Promotion and Harm Reduction. In 2009 she was co-recipient (with Evanna Brennan) of the Award of Distinction in Nursing from the College of Registered Nurses of BC.

Evanna Brennan, RN
A native of County Dublin, Ireland, Evanna Brennan, RN, took her training in Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Dublin & St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin. She has worked as a Home Care Nurse with her teammate Susan Giles from 1990-2012 and they have addressed the needs of the residents of the challenging area of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In 1997 Evanna was chosen as one of thirty-three nurses across Canada for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Nursing Mentorship program funded by Health Canada. In this role she educated and supported nurses from across the country who were grappling with the complexities of caring for an increasingly multi-diagnosed (IVDU, HIV/AIDS, mental illness) population. She is a long-standing member of the Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. In 1999 she was co-recipient (with Susan Giles) of CANAC’s Jill Sullivan Award of Excellence in HIV/AIDS Nursing. In 2003 she was co-recipient (with Susan Giles) of BC Persons with AIDS Society AccolAIDS award for Health Promotion and Harm Reduction. In 2009 she was co-recipient (with Susan Giles) of the Award of Excellence in Nursing from the College of Registered Nurses of BC. In the mid 1990s, as the HIV epidemic began in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Susan and Evanna began receiving referrals to provide Home Care Nursing services to a chaotic, street involved clientele living and dying with HIV/AIDS. They consulted and collaborated with inner city nurses in San Francisco, Amsterdam and Montreal. Combined with gritty field experience, they developed a model “Action Based Care” that defines principles and approaches to providing effective, ethical nursing care to such a population with a goal of removing barriers to care. They have field-taught student nurses from Vancouver Nursing Schools; community health nurses from across Canada and HIV nurse clinicians from Japan. They have shared their Action Based Care approach and experiences locally, nationally and internationally at conferences and seminars.