For two weeks, until Dec. 31, the Tri-City News looks back on some of our favourite photos from 2024.
Each day, we are posting one image along with commentary about what it took to get that photo and the story it conveys.
Covering any story at the 3030 Gordon shelter in Coquitlam can be a delicate situation.
An offer to hang out with a crew of medical professionals from Fraser Health administering care and compassion during their visits to the facility in a specially-equipped white van look some careful negotiation and measured execution to ensure the people who find themselves there aren’t being exploited.
Photos: How this white van delivers health care to homeless populations in the Tri-Cities, Burnaby and New West https://t.co/0RWP26109w
— Tri-City News (@TriCityNews) March 15, 2024
For the most part that meant working closely with a representative from Fraser Health who would alert residents of my presence to make sure they were comfortable, then proceeding with patience and respect, sometimes in a way that would protect residents’ identity.
At one point, during the two-plus hours I was there, someone on the sidewalk had a medical incident.
There was a sudden scurry of people back and forth to the van and a temporary office the practitioners had set up inside, others got on their cellphones.
It was very dramatic.
But I never lifted the camera; instead, I just observed from a distance.
In the context of this story and the reason I was there, it didn’t feel right to document someone’s unexpected misfortune.
Instead, it was images like this, of one of the team members extending a cup of coffee to an outstretched hand that seemed to best capture the day-to-day role of the Fraser Health van.
