The Penticton Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) is celebrating one year of expanded access to services and team-based health care in the community.

“The urgent and primary care centre has proven to be a valuable community resource in Penticton,” said Interior Health president and CEO, Susan Brown. “Whether it’s being used to treat someone’s urgent care needs to prevent an unnecessary emergency department visit, or connecting people to mental health and substance use supports, it has seen more than 17,000 visits since opening last year.”

Interior Health has more than 4,800 volunteers across the region. These volunteers fill a variety of roles that benefit our staff, patients, clients and residents alike.

Our social media platforms are a great way to engage with our Interior Health community and share information. Check out these recent posts, and consider sharing them with your friends and family on your own social channels. 

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We use social media to inform you about health-care news, services and stories, and connect you to expert sources of information. We also love to engage with our community on social media and showcase our incredible health-care staff, physicians and volunteers on the front line and behind the scenes.

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Clearwater and area residents are advised of a temporary change to the emergency department hours at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital this weekend due to unforeseen limited staffing availability.

The emergency department will be closed:

• 6 p.m. Saturday, April 16 to 7 a.m. Sunday, April 17
• 6 p.m. Monday, April 18 to 7 a.m. Tuesday, April 19

Interior Health regrets this temporary change to normal operations and reminds residents to take note of the following if they require care while the emergency department is closed:

Microbiology and PCR staff posing with Dr. Bonnie Henry shirts outside of the lab in front of KGH
 

Name: Chandra Hauer (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Medical Technologist and PCR Testing Department Lead 
Years of Service: 10
Worksite: Kelowna General Hospital 
Community: Kelowna
Ancestral Territory: Syilx
Advice to live by: I just try to have a positive outlook, be happy and hopefully promote happiness around me.

Our social media platforms are a great way to engage with our Interior Health community and share information. Check out these recent posts, and consider sharing them with your friends and family on your own social channels. 

If the link to the social channel does not open, please try another browser. You may be able to find these posts on other social channels.

On April 14, 2016, the increasing number of opioid overdoses prompted the Province to declare a public health emergency. Six years later, close to 1,500* family members, friends, coworkers, teammates, neighbours and friends have been lost to overdose within the Interior Health region alone.

A Canada goose in Kamloops has selected a fitting place to lay her eggs this spring – under the windowsill of the labour and delivery unit at Royal Inland Hospital.

And her decision has brought joy to the hearts of labour and delivery staff, who are keeping close watch via a baby monitor at the nursing station. Pictured above from left to right, labour and delivery nurses Talia Ollek, Janelle Manderson and Monica Manderson showcase the monitor.

As part of continued expansions in mental health and substance use supports, Interior Health is introducing new outpatient withdrawal management services in four communities and a new virtual option to make accessing care easier across the region.