Tag Archives: Mark Brett

Fire

Battling the blaze from the air

By Mark Brett, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Greg Adams is tasked with the aerial choreography of fighting wildfires with the ultimate goal of bringing his pilots home safe.
As an air attack officer for the BC Wildfire Service, he sits in the often bumpy front seat of the lead, bird dog aircraft to plot out the plan of attack on the unpredictable, fiery enemy below.

“Our primary role in the bird dog is make sure the tankers can safely deliver the retardant we’re asking them to deliver,” said Adams, 49, who formerly rappelled from helicopters as a frontline firefighter.

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Health

New lease on life through early intervention

By Mark Brett, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Needing a heart transplant at seven months old to stay alive, Hudson Suh’s story is one of strength and determination.

After spending nearly the entire first year of his life in a hospital bed, when he was finally well enough to leave, the young boy had challenges in his physical development.

So when the Suh family, Joe and Tiffany,  relocated to the Okanagan in 2020, they enrolled “Huddy,” who is now four, at the OSNS Child and Youth Development Centre. There he underwent the life-changing, early intervention services including occupational and physiotherapy and speech pathology.

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Arts, Community

Much love for Ukraine

By Mark Brett, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A standing ovation was the culmination to a “life-changing” visit to the South Okanagan for a group of young Calgary dancers.

But the real beneficiaries of the shows at the Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver and the Cleland Theatre are some of the millions of Ukrainians now struggling for survival.

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Community

Leaving home a matter of life and death

By Mark Brett, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a five-part series about local efforts to help Ukrainian refugees. Today we profile the work of a different organization, Ukrainian Canadian Volunteers Association, which is also helping settle newcomers in the South Okanagan and those who remained behind. People indiscriminately gunned down on city streets, the almost-constant piercing sound of the air raid sirens and families cowering in shelters praying for the bombing to end. That’s everyday life for many people in Ukraine since a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War in February 2022. Liudmyla Shkyn, 60, and her mother Hanna Opanasko, 81, who now live in Penticton, were two of the lucky ones, barely managing to escape the bloodshed.

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Community

The journey from Ukraine to Canada and a new life

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the first of a five-part series highlighting the work of the Ukraine Nightingale Project and some of the families it’s helping in the South Okanagan. To help fund that work, the UNP is staging performances by the Tryzub Ukraine dance troupe Thursday in Oliver and Saturday in Penticton.

By Mark Brett, Penticton Herald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Until last year, Oleg Varnystka had never held a gun but he now carries an AK-47 and risks his life on the front lines to defend his Ukrainian homeland.

Fortunately six months ago his wife Vitalina Varnytska and their children, daughter Vlada, 17, and son Ustym, 15, managed to escape their war-torn country.

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