Healthcare

Nanaimo Regional General Hospital as it looked 60 years ago. (Photo courtesy Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation)

Nanaimo hospital could use a check-up as it reaches 60th anniversary

NRGH has had significant expansion projects over the years and several more are in the works

Nanaimo Regional General Hospital as it looked 60 years ago. (Photo courtesy Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation)
A team of experts have released a highly anticipated set of standards to prevent the spread of infection in Canada’s long-term care homes. A man looks out the window at the Camilla Care Community centre overlooking crosses marking the deaths of multiple people that occured during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississauga, Ont., on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Liberals mum on bill to codify standards in long-term care, despite new guidelines

Pandemic-fed crisis in long-term care prompted a feds to promise safety legislation in such settings

A team of experts have released a highly anticipated set of standards to prevent the spread of infection in Canada’s long-term care homes. A man looks out the window at the Camilla Care Community centre overlooking crosses marking the deaths of multiple people that occured during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississauga, Ont., on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
North Island Hospital – Campbell River and District. Photo by Alistair Taylor/Campbell River Mirror

Doctors ask City of Campbell River for help with doctor shortage

18 vacancies represent 6,000 to 8,000 patients without a family doctor

North Island Hospital – Campbell River and District. Photo by Alistair Taylor/Campbell River Mirror
A B.C. Ambulance Service paramedic moves a stretcher outside an ambulance at Royal Columbia Hospital, in New Westminster on Nov. 29, 2020. The paramedics union has reached a tentative new agreement with BCEHS and the province as of Jan. 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. paramedics union, province agree on tentative new contract

Members will decide whether to ratify it or not over coming weeks

A B.C. Ambulance Service paramedic moves a stretcher outside an ambulance at Royal Columbia Hospital, in New Westminster on Nov. 29, 2020. The paramedics union has reached a tentative new agreement with BCEHS and the province as of Jan. 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Addilyn Emelia Radomske Booth, 23 months old, passed away unexpectedly on Dec. 29. (GoFundMe)

‘She was doing fine’: Kelowna toddler dies suddenly just days after Christmas

Fundraiser started for family of Addy, who would have turned 2 in February

  • Jan 4, 2023
Addilyn Emelia Radomske Booth, 23 months old, passed away unexpectedly on Dec. 29. (GoFundMe)
A lab technician prepares a prescription at a pharmacy in Quebec City, Thursday, March 8, 2012. In a year when pharmacists have stickhandled children’s drug shortages and an extra-busy flu shot season, you’d think they might balk at the news in Ontario and B.C. that their prescriptive powers are being expanded. Yet those in the field say the added responsibilities may make their jobs more fulfilling — so long as the changes are accompanied with appropriate funding. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

‘Big year’ for pharmacists with new prescriptive powers, drug shortages: association

B.C. pharmacists will be allowed to make some prescriptions beginning in spring 2023

A lab technician prepares a prescription at a pharmacy in Quebec City, Thursday, March 8, 2012. In a year when pharmacists have stickhandled children’s drug shortages and an extra-busy flu shot season, you’d think they might balk at the news in Ontario and B.C. that their prescriptive powers are being expanded. Yet those in the field say the added responsibilities may make their jobs more fulfilling — so long as the changes are accompanied with appropriate funding. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Dr. Andrew Boozary, a primary care physician and the Executive Director of Population Health and Social Medicine at the University Health Network (UHN) its photographed at a Stabilization & Connection site designed to help people who are unhoused, in Toronto, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

VIDEO: New hospital program helps Toronto’s homeless, cuts ambulance offload times

Stand-alone clinic provides space for people to recover from intoxication

Dr. Andrew Boozary, a primary care physician and the Executive Director of Population Health and Social Medicine at the University Health Network (UHN) its photographed at a Stabilization & Connection site designed to help people who are unhoused, in Toronto, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Greg Sayers is a physician assistant who resides in Nelson, British Columbia. He commutes more than 10 hours, to Montana, for work, because PAs are not recognized as health-care professionals in B.C. Photo supplied

Physician assistants improve health care in provinces that recognize them; B.C. doesn’t

‘It’s a waste of a resource. I could see hundreds of patients right in this area…’

Greg Sayers is a physician assistant who resides in Nelson, British Columbia. He commutes more than 10 hours, to Montana, for work, because PAs are not recognized as health-care professionals in B.C. Photo supplied
Port McNeill Hospital will be open 24/7 during the closures. (North Island Gazette file photo)

Island Health announces more North Island emergency department closures

Port McNeill Hospital’s emergency department will remain open 24/7 during both of these closures

Port McNeill Hospital will be open 24/7 during the closures. (North Island Gazette file photo)
Briana Greer (left) in Terrace with her mother, Sheila Myshrall, who urgently needs a kidney transplant. (Michael Bramadat-Willcock/Terrace Standard)
Anyone wishing to donate would need to call Vancouver General Hospital and mention Sheila Myshrall’s name. (Black Press Media file photo)

Daughter hopes for ‘Christmas miracle’ as B.C. mom’s kidney fails

Briana Greer hopes to save mom on B.C. kidney waiting list

Briana Greer (left) in Terrace with her mother, Sheila Myshrall, who urgently needs a kidney transplant. (Michael Bramadat-Willcock/Terrace Standard)
Anyone wishing to donate would need to call Vancouver General Hospital and mention Sheila Myshrall’s name. (Black Press Media file photo)
FILE - British Columbia Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on April 25, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

‘Major breach’ of B.C. health-care data could happen without anyone noticing: report

Vulnerabilities at PHSA have existed uncorrected since 2019, says info and privacy commissioner

FILE - British Columbia Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on April 25, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Preethi Krishnan, right, holds her daughter Sudha, as her husband, Ashok Narasimhan, holds twin sister Shraddha in this undated handout photo. The couple took comfort in seeing their premature babies in hospital in between daily visits, thanks to cameras installed at the infants’ bedsides at Richmond Hospital. (Contributed to Canadian Press by Preethi Krishnan)

Cameras at babies’ bedsides in B.C. neonatal intensive care unit comfort parents

‘It was not an easy thing, just to leave them and come home, then sleep and go again’

Preethi Krishnan, right, holds her daughter Sudha, as her husband, Ashok Narasimhan, holds twin sister Shraddha in this undated handout photo. The couple took comfort in seeing their premature babies in hospital in between daily visits, thanks to cameras installed at the infants’ bedsides at Richmond Hospital. (Contributed to Canadian Press by Preethi Krishnan)
Physician assistants are valued members of other provinces’ healthcare systems, but the B.C. government does not recognize their qualifications. ADOBE STOCK IMAGE

Military and university-trained physician assistants rejected by B.C.’s health system

They are ready and willing, but due to provincial policies, these healthcare workers are not able

Physician assistants are valued members of other provinces’ healthcare systems, but the B.C. government does not recognize their qualifications. ADOBE STOCK IMAGE
Registered nurse Lee-Anne Williams, centre, confers with colleagues in the intensive care unit at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

VIDEO: How one Canadian pediatric hospital’s ICU was saved from near collapse

The ICU – currently filled mostly by children – has been over capacity for the last month

Registered nurse Lee-Anne Williams, centre, confers with colleagues in the intensive care unit at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
FILE-First Nations Health Authority deputy chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman speaks during a press conference at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Cultural safety standard will force accountability in B.C. health care for Indigenous peoples

New guide comes alongside findings of widespread anti-Indigenous racism

  • Dec 12, 2022
FILE-First Nations Health Authority deputy chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman speaks during a press conference at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Aa patient receives an influenza vaccine in Mesquite, Texas, on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. At least five children died in British Columbia from influenza last month alone, a rise that comes as an early season of respiratory illnesses adds strain to the beleaguered health-care system.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/LM Otero

Children’s deaths from influenza up in B.C., with five mortalities last month

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an average of five to six kids died per flu season across Canada

Aa patient receives an influenza vaccine in Mesquite, Texas, on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. At least five children died in British Columbia from influenza last month alone, a rise that comes as an early season of respiratory illnesses adds strain to the beleaguered health-care system.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/LM Otero
St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver is shown on April 29, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. doctors ratify new agreement that includes pay increase, more rural funding

3-year agreement includes better after-hours pay, more rural funding, shift toward primary care

St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver is shown on April 29, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Daily hospital visits continue to increase in B.C. as cases of respiratory illness surge among kids. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

B.C. hospital visits up about 200 cases a day amid influenza surge

Province one third of the way through its flu season, Dr. Bonnie Henry says

Daily hospital visits continue to increase in B.C. as cases of respiratory illness surge among kids. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
An aerial view of Alert Bay, located on Cormorant Island. (alertbay.ca photo)

Cormorant Island’s health-care crisis continues on, with no end in sight

Two doctors have finished out their contracts, leaving only one doctor now for the entire island

An aerial view of Alert Bay, located on Cormorant Island. (alertbay.ca photo)
The Urgent Care Centre in Chemainus is closed for two days during the first half of December. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Chemainus Urgent Care Centre hours include two closures in early December

Physician availability still hampering efforts to remain fully operational

The Urgent Care Centre in Chemainus is closed for two days during the first half of December. (Photo by Don Bodger)