health Archives

Leslie Carty on the Rural Coordination Centre of BC

Leslie Carty, Executive Manager of the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc), discusses the organization, its mandate to improve rural health care in British Columbia, and some of its initiatives in this conversation, recorded at a RCCbc-sponsored rural health partners’ retreat in Vancouver, January 29, 2019. For more on rural health, visit our…

Dr. Ray Markham — a Conversation

Dr. Ray Markham is a Valemount, BC-based doctor, and the Executive Director of the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc). The RCCbc is focused on improving rural health education in British Columbia, and generally working to advocate for rural health in the province. This conversation with Dr. Markham was recorded on January 29, 2019, in…

Gabriola Islanders Make a Healthy Choice!

The community of Gabriola Island was selected for the Rural Coordination Centre of BC’s 2018 BC Rural Community Award at the BC Rural Health Conference in Nanaimo, BC, on May 12, 2018. The community was honoured for its innovation and resiliency in recovering from a healthcare crisis in 2006, when one of the island’s…

Rural Coordination Centre Tackles Rural Health Issues

Health care is a complicated business at the best of times. Effective, appropriate health care delivery in rural and remote places can be particularly challenging. Scattered populations, vast distances, sketchy infrastructure, and often unique socio-economic circumstances all contribute to making adequate health care for rural and First Nations citizens complicated. In rural British Columbia, the…

Gabriola Island DIY Health Centre

Gabriola Island (pop. 4,000) is a remote community just off of Nanaimo, British Columbia. After years of patch-work health care, community members determined the need for reliable medical care that wouldn’t require helicopters or ferries to transport patients off the island to doctors situated in larger metropolitan centres. They banded together to build a state-of-the-art…

Seniors’ Housing

Slocan seniors’ housing hosts grand opening Sept. 27 Years of hard work, stamina and emotion have gone into the creation and construction of Slocan City Suites, the new seniors’ housing that celebrates its grand opening on Thursday, Sept. 27 in the Village of Slocan. “We’ll call it a ‘soft’ grand opening,” says Slocan Valley Seniors’…

Healthcare a Hot Topic In This Kootenay Community

Healthcare — access to adequate health services — is an ongoing problem across rural BC. The challenge for one community to recruit new physicians could have a drastic effect on the emergency room hours for residents. The village of New Denver in southeastern B.C., along the shore of Slocan Lake, was going to change its…

Aging BC Doctors an Issue

The phenomenon of aging BC doctors and its implications for patients, especially in rural BC, is looming as a real challenge, . Almost 15 per cent of British Columbians don’t have access to a regular family physician, and a new report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests the problem will only get worse as…