BC Health

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix pauses while speaking in Burnaby, B.C., May 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Pediatric critical care plan part of B.C.’s new measures to better hospital capacity

Health Minister Adrian Dix says B.C. working to improve hospital capacity in pediatric units

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix pauses while speaking in Burnaby, B.C., May 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Lily Lee administered inoculations, acted as a school nurse and served as a liaison between health and welfare. (The Canadian Press)

Ex-nurse donates $3.8M for health unit in Downtown Eastside where she worked in 1950s

Lily Lee made her donation through the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation

Lily Lee administered inoculations, acted as a school nurse and served as a liaison between health and welfare. (The Canadian Press)
(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

BC Centre for Disease Control warns of monkeypox automated call scam

IH doesn’t use automated calls to notify people about exposure to infectious diseases

(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Interior Health and local police are investigating an incident involving the death of a patient at the Penticton Regional Hospital on Oct. 10. (File photo)

Interior Health, RCMP investigating patient fatality at Penticton hospital

IH says there was no direct threat to staff or other patients inside the psychiatric unit

Interior Health and local police are investigating an incident involving the death of a patient at the Penticton Regional Hospital on Oct. 10. (File photo)
A person receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic run by Vancouver Coastal Health, in Richmond, B.C., Saturday, April 10, 2021. Provincial officials say shipments of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron variant are expected in British Columbia soon, after Health Canada approved the shot. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. to get 1.7 million doses of new Pfizer bivalent vaccine from next week

Moderna’s equivalent bivalent shot is already available to those aged 18 and older

A person receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic run by Vancouver Coastal Health, in Richmond, B.C., Saturday, April 10, 2021. Provincial officials say shipments of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron variant are expected in British Columbia soon, after Health Canada approved the shot. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
B.C. health minister Adrian Dix at the Union of B.C. Municipalities last month in Whistler. (Credit: Union of B.C. Municipalities)

‘System collapsing’: B.C.’s Health Minister under fire after ‘horrifying’ story from Penticton

‘Sadly, this NDP government is not listening,’ said Penticton MLA Dan Ashton

B.C. health minister Adrian Dix at the Union of B.C. Municipalities last month in Whistler. (Credit: Union of B.C. Municipalities)
A health-care worker prepares monkeypox vaccine in Montreal on July 23, 2022. Second doses of the monkeypox vaccine will be available to British Columbians starting this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Second doses of monkeypox vaccine available in B.C. this week

Those who received their first dose at least 28 days ago are eligible for their second

A health-care worker prepares monkeypox vaccine in Montreal on July 23, 2022. Second doses of the monkeypox vaccine will be available to British Columbians starting this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
The Barriere BC Ambulance Services station. (Jill Hayward/News Staff)

8-month-old baby dies in B.C. Interior town while waiting for ambulance

Mayor calling for action by province to restore ambulance service to small communities

The Barriere BC Ambulance Services station. (Jill Hayward/News Staff)
Multiple BC residents have been forced to wait over an hour for an ambulance in the past year due to paramedic shortages. (The News)

Lower Mainland paramedics warn ambulance service critically understaffed

On Aug. 20 there were no ambulances staffed in Maple Ridge

Multiple BC residents have been forced to wait over an hour for an ambulance in the past year due to paramedic shortages. (The News)
Taryn Lim, 34 months old, suffered a broken leg and is missing a couple of teeth after she fell from a third-storey window in Langley on Monday, Aug. 8. (Special to the Langley Advance Times)

Toddler’s fall from third-storey window should be a warning to other parents, father says

Langley’s Taryn Lim has a broken leg, but her parents worried it could have been much worse

Taryn Lim, 34 months old, suffered a broken leg and is missing a couple of teeth after she fell from a third-storey window in Langley on Monday, Aug. 8. (Special to the Langley Advance Times)
Protesters gather outside the Ministry of Health Wednesday (Aug. 10) afternoon, calling on the provincial government to address the family doctor shortage. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)

Demonstrators in Victoria call for province to address B.C.’s family doctor shortage

People with and without family physicians converge on Health Ministry office

Protesters gather outside the Ministry of Health Wednesday (Aug. 10) afternoon, calling on the provincial government to address the family doctor shortage. (Austin Westphal/News Staff)
B.C. Premier John Horgan pauses after announcing he will not run in the next provincial election during a news conference in Vancouver, on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A group representing emergency room doctors across the country has a message for Canada’s premiers: come up with a co-ordinated plan to prevent their workplaces from being closed due to staffing shortages that are creating an unprecedented crisis in health care. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Ottawa’s share of health-care funding to be top concern at premiers’ meeting in B.C.

Premiers calling for feds to increase their share of spending from 22 to 35 per cent

B.C. Premier John Horgan pauses after announcing he will not run in the next provincial election during a news conference in Vancouver, on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A group representing emergency room doctors across the country has a message for Canada’s premiers: come up with a co-ordinated plan to prevent their workplaces from being closed due to staffing shortages that are creating an unprecedented crisis in health care. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Kootenay Lake Medical Clinic in Nelson used to be one of two walk-in clinics in the West Kootenay. But the family doctor shortage in B.C. has meant the clinic can no longer offer walk-in appointments. Photo: Tyler Harper

‘We have no other health-care options’: Nelson walk-in clinics struggling during family doctor shortage

In the West Kootenay, the only two walk-in clinics can’t keep up with demand

Kootenay Lake Medical Clinic in Nelson used to be one of two walk-in clinics in the West Kootenay. But the family doctor shortage in B.C. has meant the clinic can no longer offer walk-in appointments. Photo: Tyler Harper
Dr. Bonnie Henry. (Submitted Photo)

PODCAST: Dr. Bonnie Henry discusses COVID-19 and what’s next for B.C.

TODAY IN B.C.: One-on-one chat with provincial health officer

Dr. Bonnie Henry. (Submitted Photo)
Matthew and Kari Atkins have been paying $1,200 a month to treat Kari’s metastatic breast cancer for the last several months. (Submitted photo)

B.C. couple left to foot $1,200-a-month cancer treatment bill due to ‘funding loophole’

Kari and Matthew Atkins hope the government will offer funding for people in their situation

Matthew and Kari Atkins have been paying $1,200 a month to treat Kari’s metastatic breast cancer for the last several months. (Submitted photo)
This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, Portuguese health authorities confirmed five cases of monkeypox in young men, marking an unusual outbreak in Europe of a disease typically limited to Africa. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP)

UPDATE: No monkeypox currently in B.C., officials say

The BCCDC said after investigation the ‘possible cases’ were determined not to be monkeypox

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, Portuguese health authorities confirmed five cases of monkeypox in young men, marking an unusual outbreak in Europe of a disease typically limited to Africa. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP)
Dr. Bonnie Henry visits with Bonnie and Henry, BC and Alberta Guide Dogs in training, at the Ministry of Health offices in Victoria. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

VIDEO: B.C.’s Dr. Bonnie Henry meets Bonnie and Henry

Future working dogs check in with namesake Dr. Bonnie Henry in Victoria

Dr. Bonnie Henry visits with Bonnie and Henry, BC and Alberta Guide Dogs in training, at the Ministry of Health offices in Victoria. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)
(Black Press file photo)

1-in-3 B.C. health-care workers plan to quit within the next 2 years: poll

Hospital Employees’ Union survey finds high levels of fatigue, burnout, financial stress

(Black Press file photo)
Assisted-suicide supporters wait outside the B.C. Court of Appeal before the court overturned a lower court ruling that said Canada's assisted-suicide ban violated the charter rights of gravely ill Canadians, in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday October 10, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Opposition mounts to forced transfers of medically assisted death seekers in B.C.

Transfers happen when a patient is treated in a facility that forbids medical assistance in dying

Assisted-suicide supporters wait outside the B.C. Court of Appeal before the court overturned a lower court ruling that said Canada's assisted-suicide ban violated the charter rights of gravely ill Canadians, in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday October 10, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Newly trained perfusionist Kris Hromadnik working during a coronary arterial bypass case. (Supplied by Roger Stanzel)

Canada bleeding heart-and-lung surgery technicians to better-paying U.S.

Demand for perfusionists skyrockets during pandemic, with shortages in hospitals across the country

Newly trained perfusionist Kris Hromadnik working during a coronary arterial bypass case. (Supplied by Roger Stanzel)