Our daily routines – mealtimes, family chore time and bedtime – offer opportunities for caregivers and parents to connect with toddlers and preschoolers. But did you know they are also an opportunity to develop children’s speech and language skills?

“As pediatric speech-language pathologists, we know how important social interactions are in the development of speech, language and communication skills in infants, toddlers and preschoolers,” says Christina El Gazzar, professional practice leader, early childhood development speech and language services, Interior Health.

Clearwater and area residents are advised of temporary changes to emergency department hours at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital due to limited nursing availability. 

Starting 11 p.m. tonight, May 15 to 7 a.m. Tuesday, May 16, emergency services will be unavailable and patients can access care at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. 

Please see the attached document to learn more about the look, contamination, and risk associated with the current drug alert.

Name: Teresa Packer (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Support services supervisor
Years of Service: 15
Worksite: Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (KBH)
Community:  Trail
Ancestral Territory: Ktunaxa (tun-ah-ha)/ Kootenay Ktunaxa

In 2021, a year marked by catastrophic wildfires and floods in B.C., Tamara Sommer was hired to support the Health Emergency Management B.C. (HEMBC) team at Interior Health (IH). Today, Tamara is the Indigenous HEM liaison, supporting First Nations communities throughout the Interior region.

It’s that time of year when the weather has warmed up and the snowpack is rapidly melting, causing some localized flooding in communities across Interior Health. 

Flooding causes devastation to infrastructure, municipal and personal property, but it can also have major health implications, such as contaminated water. Residents impacted by flooding need to be aware of the potential risks associated with drinking water at this time. 

Please see the attached document to learn more about the look, contamination, and risk associated with the current drug alert.

Cranbrook Drug Alert May 4, 2023

National Nursing Week is an annual celebration that occurs the same week as Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12.

The theme for 2023 is Our Nurses. Our Future. This theme showcases the many roles that nurses play in a patient’s health-care journey. The past few years have brought to light the courage and commitment that nurses work under every day, and showed the important role that nurses play in the community.

Based in the Okanagan, Dr. Megan Hill is a family physician (FP) with a subspecialty in addictions medicine.  Dr. Hill first encountered harm reduction in med school. “I wrote a paper on Insite (Vancouver’s supervised consumption site) and was immediately drawn to the evidence and logic behind this approach,” she says. “It’s a profoundly logical approach to helping people get better by engaging them and giving them medications that help them feel better as opposed to being punitive.

If you're having a baby in Penticton, you’re part of an international initiative to improve the care that families receive before, during and after the birth of their baby, thanks to the Baby-Friendly Initiative.

The Baby-Friendly Initiative, or BFI, is a World Health Organization and UNICEF program that guides health-care providers in breastfeeding best practices, and ensures families have the support they need and want.