Posts by Dr. Vanessa Brcic

Dr. Vanessa Brcic

About Dr. Vanessa Brcic

Dr. Vanessa Brcic is a community-based researcher, Vancouver-based registered somatic therapist and family physician with a special interest in trauma, mental health and chronic pain. Her research interests are in practice-based research, primary care reform, poverty, and the social determinants of health. Clinically, she is interested in the interdisciplinary care of vulnerable patients and those with complex chronic conditions often neglected in the medical system. She is also an executive board member of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, and the co-founder and Chair of Basics for Health Society, which consults with organizations to increase capacity to address social determinants of health in clinical settings. Follow Dr. Brcic on Twitter

We’re Moving towards a Healthier, More Equitable Society. Don’t Let Progress Stop

May 14, 2020
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Heartbreaking stories have emerged from their regular invisibility during the pandemic—hungry children, isolated elders, violence and child abuse, often with poverty or trauma at the root. Injustices experienced by many people in Canada predated the pandemic, and it hurts to witness it. Meanwhile, equitable societies are better for everyone in them. In January, an article in the… View Article

Poverty interventions are health interventions: Three considerations

Mar 23, 2018
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An irrefutable evidence base demonstrates that socioeconomic conditions—in particular poverty and inequality—impact health. In health care we call these conditions ‘social determinants of health’ (SDOH)—a term that describes the downstream health impacts of multiple forms of systemic inequity. In the context of a society, culture and health system that focus on the individual, it is… View Article

The election story is an addiction story

Nov 9, 2016
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I know I am not alone shedding tears for the story of the 2016 American election. These aren’t the tears of a campaign or game lost, or an ego wounded, nor are they tears of aloneness, because I know I am not the only one who is afraid. These tears connect me to all of… View Article

Potential profits big enough to justify a massive lawsuit: 6 things you should know about the Cambie trial

Sep 8, 2016
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The biggest constitutional trial “perhaps ever” in Canada is now in court. The future of our publicly funded health care system is at stake. Putting Canadian Medicare on trial is complex, and vulnerable to the blatantly false and simplistic messaging that increasing “private care” will take the pressure off public wait lists, increase patient choice,… View Article

How Doctors are Paid in BC

Feb 22, 2014
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  [A version of this piece was posted on the Tyee] Health care is the biggest, most expensive and most important thing that government does. Hospital care swallows up a large proportion of the health care budget, but primary care in the community takes care of most patient needs and keeps people out of hospital…. View Article

Anti-poverty movement, meet the culture of medicine.

Jan 23, 2014
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The evidence for the burden of income inequality on health is plentiful and convincing, with inequity and its health impact both increasing in British Columbia in recent years. Many voices are calling for attention to poverty reduction and a living wage. But what happens when you add doctors into this conversation? Progress and challenges both. Some physicians are at the… View Article