Category Archives: Health

Health

North Coast leaders met with the province to voice ambulance concerns

By Kaitlyn Bailey,  Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Spurred by growing concern about paramedic shortages and gaps in service, three leaders from Haida Gwaii and Nuxalk Nation lobbied for solutions during a meeting with Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Leanne Heppell, executive vice president and chief ambulance officer at BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), on Aug. 3.

The province introduced a new paramedic staffing model for rural and remote communities in the fall of 2021, which they refer to as Scheduled on Call (SOC).

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Health, Women

Volunteer safe homes needed on Cortes Island: women’s centre

By Louis Belcourt, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

The Campbell River and North Island Transition Society is looking for private safe homes to shelter women and children fleeing violence on Cortes Island.

The society works closely with the Cortes Island Women’s Resource Centre to help provide services, resource and shelter for those in need.

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Health

Alert Bay residents worried as overnight ER services shut down for two weeks

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A remote B.C. island community is anxious as it faces a two-week overnight closure of its local emergency room due to the ongoing medical staffing crisis across the province. 

Island Health announced the closure of Alert Bay ER in the Cormorant Island Community Health Centre from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. nightly, which started Tuesday and will last until Aug. 16.  

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Health

Why Monkeypox Vaccine Tourism Is a Good Thing

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When Jackson Hern asked his primary care doctor about getting the monkeypox vaccine in Seattle last week, he was surprised by the lack of  information she had to offer.

Concerns about a rising number of monkeypox cases among gay men in Seattle had been all over Hern’s social media accounts. 

But Hern, 29, found out he wouldn’t be eligible for a vaccine against the virus in Seattle until the fall.

That is, until a friend told him he’d been able to get one in Vancouver, and sent Hern the link to book an appointment.

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Health

Organ donations remain a hard sell among some groups

By Gita Abraham, New Canadian Media, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Religions, beliefs, culture, and even local history influence what Canadians — especially immigrants — think should happen to the body after death. These beliefs and traditions surrounding death could impact medical research opportunities. 

In Ontario, medical schools depend on donated bodies to train future medical professionals. ‘Body donation’ involves a whole body given to schools of anatomy for educational and research purposes.

Continue reading Organ donations remain a hard sell among some groups →