Paramedics: an essential service, or just healthcare workers?
There you are, flat on the floor with crushing chest pain. "Heart attack!" you think, while the world goes a bit grey and fuzzy. But you're able to reach your phone and dial 911. Is this an emergency? Are the paramedics who come to tend you essential, or just nice to have, like a clean floor to lie on while you wait for...
Poverty study finds high housing need in Trail, minimum wage far below living wage
In partnership with Selkirk College, the Skills Centre is releasing research to support the development of a poverty reduction strategy for the Lower Columbia Region. The Surviving, Not Thriving report covers several topics from income and employment, to food security, housing, early childhood vulnerability, transportation,...
Opinion: Restrictions on Smoking Outdoors?
(Editor's Note: The article below is contributed by the Canadian Cancer Society. Readers should note that on January 9, 2017, the City of Trail adopted Bylaw #2821, which restricts outdoor smoking. It says: " 2.1. No person shall smoke: (a) In any Park; (b) At or within 6.0 metres of a Recreation Facility; (c) At an ...
Trail fitness centre to get $335,000 expansion
The Trail Aquatic and Leisure Center will be expanding its fitness center in 2017 - the final planning stages for a 933-sq.-ft. additional space are under way. Parks and Recreation director Trisha Davison says her vision for the project would be for building to begin by April 1 and wrap up with the annual shutdown in August....
BC Coroners Service Releases 2017 Illicit Drug Death Numbers
The number of illicit drug deaths in B.C. continues to increase each month with December numbers the highest ever recorded in a single month in the province, according to the latest statistics from the BC Coroners Service. Provisional data show that a total of 142 persons died as a result of illicit drug use during the month...
BC takes significant step forward in preventing cancer with HPV announcement
In a media release, the Canadian Cancer Society calls the recent BC Government announcement to provide the HPV vaccine to all genders through schools a significant move forward in public health policy. The Society believes this change, which will take place in September 2017, will have an enormous impact in reducing children’s...
Gitxsan chiefs add fourth lawsuit opposing Pacific Northwest LNG
Inland B.C. hereditary First Nations chiefs joined coastal ones in announcing a fourth federal lawsuit against Ottawa’s approval of the Pacific Northwest LNG project, at a press conference in Vancouver. They claim that the gas export terminal is an infringement of their Aboriginal fishing rights. Two Gitxsan Nation hereditary...
B.C. extends free HPV coverage to boys
Beginning this September, British Columbia will become the latest province to provide the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to boys, as part of B.C.’s publicly funded immunization program, Health Minister Terry Lake announced Friday. “We need to do everything we can to help girls and boys grow up to be healthy adults,”...
Fentanyl a growing problem with more overdose deaths in Kootenay-Boundary in 2016
The deadly problem with fentanyl overdoses grew in 2016 in the Kootenay-Boundary, but it is still lower than the regional and provincial rate, says an Interior Health official. Gillian Frosst, epidemiologist with Interior Health, said the fentanyl problem is growing more common in the Kootenay-Boundary region, and it increased...
21 flu-related deaths at IH care facilities, outbreaks in Trail and Castlegar
Influenza outbreaks are plaguing longterm care facilities in the Interior Health region, including ones in Castlegar and Trail, according to Pamela De Bruin, IH manager for Communicable Diseases and Immunization Programs....
