Cortes Island's Augmented Homew SUpport Program operates out of the Cortes Health Centre

Cortes Community Health Association AGM Held at Mansons Hall

The Cortes Community Health Association held its annual AGM at 1pm on Sunday May 7th, in the main room at Mansons Hall. The meeting was lightly attended and no controversial topics were on the agenda.

After opening the meeting, Board President Ed Safarik welcomed guest speaker Yasmina Cartland who made a brief presentation about “Compassionate Communities.” The rest of the meeting was devoted to the usual business of an AGM, concluding with selection of Board members for the coming year

Compassionate Communities promotional graphic from CCUK website.

Compassionate Communities

Ms Cartland presented a short video documentary from the UK, where the Compassionate Communities concept originates.

Compassionate Communities UK, is part of a growing global social movement transforming relationships, health and well-being in the UK and beyond. Based in the public health palliative care philosophy, we collaborate with community partners from healthcare and hospice, to education, governments and corporations – anyone and everyone who wants to enhance skills and develop community-led solutions to make communities healthier and more compassionate.  

— Compassionate Communities homepage

The Cortes Deathcaring Collective is bringing this concept to the island. The goal of the programme on Cortes is to offer funding and training to support community members who volunteer to assist and befriend people suffering from severe or terminal illness, and those recently bereaved. “Death is not a ‘medical incident’,” said Ms Cartland. “It’s just part of life.”

“People are living longer than we used to,” said Ms Cartland, “but often in poor health in the last years of our lives. There are unrealistic expectations of complete independence, when it would be better and kinder to make help available. Most people would rather stay in their homes as long as possible, and would rather die at home than in institutional care. Compassionate Communities can help support them.”

Dying at Home in Good Company — Midjourney Image by De Clarke

The Collective used seed grant money to bring a hospice training to Cortes, for example, so that fifteen local volunteers could acquire better skills for assisting in hospice-type care. They will also be hiring a Coordinator to manage the volunteers and “get the programme moving.”

CCHA In Good Financial Condition, Has New Website

Filipe Figueira, a recent recruit to the Board, gave a brief financial presentation; he reported that while the Association’s assets value has dropped slightly since last year, this is due to depreciation. The organisation has a modest budget surplus, and has recently received a generous $12K donation from a Cortes islander, for a bloodwork diagnostic device.

Most of the Association’s programmes for the year are fully funded. The President emphasised that despite this encouraging solvency, it would be a good idea to build up some reserve to prepare for depreciation. Building repairs will inevitably be needed at some point.

Looking ahead to increased climate instability and extreme summer temperatures, CCHA is discussing the installation of a heat pump system for the clinic. The existing heating system works well, but in very hot spells the building has no effective cooling; a heat pump would help the clinic to stay open during heat waves and maintain a livable indoor temperature for staff and patients. The Board is hoping for community support and donations to make this happen.

Mr Safarik also pointed out that wait times and accessibility on Cortes at the moment are probably better than most other places in BC, particularly the large cities. While there is a shortage of doctors and medical services throughout the Province, Cortesians are relatively fortunate in not being as severely impacted as most other communities.

Mention was also made of Mr Figuera’s achievement in creating a new website for CCHA, which should help islanders stay informed about services offered by the Association. These extend beyond the management of the Health Centre; the Association is also sponsoring in-home support, family and youth support, and possibly hospice services in future.

New CCHA homepage

Nurses and Doctors

The Association faces some challenges, mostly with regard to medical personnel. At present the clinic has only one qualified nurse; and while there is a full complement of doctors at this time, they have been in contract negotiations with VIHA for a year and a half without resolution. Province-wide changes in the pay scale for locums have reduced the incentive for doctors to take locum shifts in remote and rural areas, so it is now harder to find coverage when our “home team” need a break.

Local housing for doctors and nurses also remains a perennial challenge. A full-time rental has been offered, but at a fairly high cost and on a longer-term lease basis. Given the uncertainty of the outcome of VIHA negotiations, the doctors have not wanted to commit to an expensive lease and are renting by the month. At present they have an established arrangement with a local homeowner, which requires them to vacate the property for at least a month each summer.

“Doctors camping out in the woods” — Midjourney cartoon by De Clarke

Workload is another challenge. During the Covid pandemic, many people put off making medical appointments; some were reluctant to place more burden on the health care system during a crisis, others feared the risk of infection in hospitals and clinics. Now, many are “catching up” on tests and treatments, and the Cortes clinic is feeling the extra workload. The clinic is now booking non-urgent appointments well into the future — three weeks and more.

The medical staff are looking forward to the arrival of a part time professional social worker serving Cortes and Quadra. “This will be a huge time saver and offload a lot of calls from the doctors,” said Dr. Katie McIntyre.

Health Beyond the Doctor’s Office

The Cortes Community Health Association adopts “community health” as a broader mission than simply providing medical services. It also sponsors several community programmes: Augmented Home Support, Family Services, and Youth Support. Desta Beattie is the Association’s Coordinator/Facilitator for Family Services, and she reported on the last year’s activities.

Before delivering her report, Ms Beattie asked the Board and membership to consider some statistics:

The median income on Cortes Island is $35K. This is $30K below the Provincial average; it’s also lower than the Quadra average. Nationwide in Canada, women make about 11 percent less income than men on average; but on Cortes Island, women make about 32 percent less than men on average. “So it’s like we’re still in the 1950’s here,” she said.

Of Cortes Island’s many renters, almost half (47 percent) pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent. By official Provincial standards that classifies them as “at risk of homelessness.” Technically, by official standards, quite a few kids on Cortes are living “in poverty.”

Ms Beattie reminded the meeting that precarity and poverty, according to the WHO, weigh just as heavily in health outcomes as lifestyle choices and access to medical care.

Tarlov AR. Public policy frameworks for improving population health. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1999; 896: 281-93.

CCHA is doing what it can to help. They have partnered with BC Ferries to provide ferry passes for families taking kids to medical screening and testing appointment; have helped seven families with travel costs for medical treatment and assisted them to find affordable overnight accommodation when needed; have provided four First Aid trainings; and over the winter provided a lunch for families after Parents and Tots. CCHA is also assisting with the Pod Programme (a shareable office space for island non-profit groups, located on the CCEDA property).

Bianca Lee reported that the Association also supports five drop-in youth programmes; now that the immediate Covid-19 emergency has subsided, they are able to use the gym and art room at the school. Dedicated facilitators, plus generous financial contributions from grants and community members, have made it possible for Cortes to have high quality youth activities throughout the school year.

The newest programme, Creative Critters (for kids 5-6), is not yet eligible for Gaming Grant money and CCHA is hoping to get some community support for it.

Election and New Board

Six members of the Board had one year left to serve of their initial terms: Julia Rendall, Bernice McGowan, Sean Lymworth, Kim Robertson, Bianca Lee, and Katie Barr. One member had reached the end of his term and was up for re-election: Ed Safarik. One member, Filipe Figuera, had joined the board on a pro-tem basis mid-year, and sought election to be formally confirmed. The maximum Board size is nine members, which left one unclaimed seat.

Three calls were made for further nominations, without result. Mr Safarik and Mr Figuera were therefore elected by acclamation and the new Board was established for the coming year. The meeting concluded at 2:45 pm.