The old saying that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – in the case of Interior Health’s Urgent and Primary Care Centres, where individual health care professionals work together in close collaboration to support the needs of patients, that couldn’t be more true.

Mercedes Casley is very familiar with the Arrow Lakes Hospital (ALH) in Nakusp.

Not only did she grow up in nearby New Denver, Mercedes began her health-care career at Arrow Lakes Hospital before she had even graduated from nursing school.

Now, having also worked as an emergency department nurse in other West Kootenay Boundary hospitals, Mercedes is the Patient Care and Long Term Care Coordinator at Arrow Lakes Hospital.

Volunteers offer non-medical follow-up help and advice

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, testing in the emergency department at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) was primarily reserved for those patients needing hospitalization to treat their disease.

It is almost impossible to find a person in Canada today who has not been impacted by COVID-19. Every family across the country has been coping with some level of change in routine.

One group particularly hard hit by recent changes are people living in long-term care or assisted living homes. In an effort to protect this vulnerable group, homes have restricted visitor access, changed group activities, and modified dining routines.