Category Archives: Health

Animals, Health

Chronic Wasting Disease reported in the Kootenay Region

On January 31, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed that two cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) have been found south of Cranbrook, in the Kootenays. ‘The first sample came from a ‘harvested’ adult male mule deer and the second from a white-tailed doe that was struck on the road. 

CWD is a highly infectious and fatal disease, which the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention states, “affects many different species of hoofed animals including North American elk or wapiti, red deer, mule deer, black-tailed deer, white-tailed deer, sika deer, reindeer, and moose.”

This is the first report of CWD west of the Rocky Mountains in Canada or the United States.  

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Health

Chewing on Solutions to BC’s Dental Shortage

Editor’s Note: From 1995 until 2020, the Marine Dental Clinic used to serve Cortes and some of the neighbouring islands. Now Cortes residents make what is often an all day trip into Campbell River. The article below points to an additional strain, on a dental service that already has 1,550 job openings, as the National dental plan opens the doors for free service to anyone over the age of 18.

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Remote and rural communities in B.C. are currently facing a shortage of dentists, according to WorkBC.

This is especially true in Indigenous communities, where most people have to leave the community to access dental services, according to the First Nations Health Authority.

Medium-sized communities are also feeling the squeeze. In Powell River, a community of nearly 14,000 people with four dental offices, locals told The Tyee they’ve had to head by ferry to neighbouring communities for care after a year of trying to be seen by a local dentist.

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Health

Changes Coming To The Cortes Medical Clinic

British Columbia’s health care crisis has reached Cortes Island. A number of complex factors led to the resignation of all three doctors working out of the Cortes Island Medical Clinic. Their contract ends on Sunday, March 31, 2024. 

“The  physicians that we’ve had in our physicians group are moving on to do things in their own lives. They’re starting practices elsewhere and it no longer fits for them to come here,” explained Bernice McGowan, on behalf of the Cortes Community Health Association (CCHA) board.

“We will not be shutting the doors of the clinic on April 1st.  That’s not in the foreseeable future. If our physicians leave, the worst case scenario is that we have a whole bunch of locums coming and we’ve been in this position before, where the only people that we had covering the practice were locums.” 

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Health, Housing, Politics, Transportation

Eby talks transport, toxic drug crisis and short-term rentals at economic summit

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Transportation, short-term rentals and disorder related to the toxic drug crisis in city centres were the top issues raised with Premier David Eby at the State of the Island Economic Summit on Thursday. 

After addressing the crowd at Nanaimo’s conference centre, Eby fielded questions and concerns from business and industry leaders, politicians and communities on the key issues hurting economic development across Vancouver Island. 

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Health, Politics

Province proposes more restrictions to public drug use; advocate fears this will force people back into the shadows

Editor’s note: While the examples in this story are from Victoria, a July 2023 BC Government press release named the Greater Campbell River Health Area (which includes outlying areas like Cortes and Quadra Islands, as well as the city of Campbell River) among the six worst health areas in BC for unregulated drug deaths. 

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Victoria, B.C. – On Oct. 5 the B.C. government announced its proposed amendments drug-use regulations, which would put illicit use more in alignment with the limits of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis in public places.

On Jan. 31 of this year, the province decriminalized personal possession of opioids (heroin, morphine, and fentanyl), crack and powder cocaine, methamphetamine (meth), and MDMA (ecstasy) in amounts of 2.5 grams and under.

Continue reading Province proposes more restrictions to public drug use; advocate fears this will force people back into the shadows →