In the early years of life, particularly from birth to five years old, a child’s social and emotional development is just as vital as their physical growth.
Early childhood experts say the years before kindergarten are a critical time that shapes how a child expresses feelings, manages stress, builds relationships and learns about themselves and others.
Name: Sarah Pilar Dares (she/her/hers)
Job Title: Clinical Operations Manager
Length of Service: 20 years
Worksite: Royal Inland Hospital
Community: Kamloops
Ancestral Territory: Tk'emlups in Secwépemc Nation.
Please see the attached document to learn more about the look, contamination, and risk associated with the current drug alert.
Experts say creating a community that supports people living with dementia creates safer spaces, ensuring people of all ages and abilities meet their needs close to home.
The Alzheimer Society of Canada estimates more than 1.7 million people in Canada are expected to be living with dementia by 2050. It’s about triple the roughly 600,000 Canadians currently living with the illness.
Please see the attached document to learn more about the look, contamination, and risk associated with the current drug alert.
For many patients, having access to news and entertainment can make a hospital stay feel less stressful and isolating.
Interior Health (IH)’s Bring Your Own Device program encourages patients to bring their own smartphones, tablets or laptops to the hospital for entertainment and communication. Bedside TVs are no longer available.
Bringing your own device gives you more control over your experience and a choice in how you stay connected and entertained.
All our hospitals offer free, upgraded Wi‑Fi, so you can:
Please see the attached document to learn more about the look, contamination, and risk associated with the current drug alert.
Eight teens have been selected as winners for the 2025 Beyond the Buzz 2.0: Youth Voices on Substance Use poster contest.
Dr. Mark Szynkaruk—known simply as Dr. Mark to his patients—is a family doctor based in the small town of Grand Forks. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s medical school, he came to the Kootenay Boundary region over a decade ago as part of the first cohort of UBC’s newly-launched rural family medicine residency. He was drawn to the variety of work that medicine in a small, rural town offers and knew early on he wanted to work in addiction medicine.
Interior Health (IH) is reminding residents to protect themselves and their families by purchasing food only from approved food businesses.
In 2025, IH received 60 complaints about unapproved food vendors—a number that continues to rise.
More people are turning to home-based food businesses to earn extra income or test out a new business idea with minimal personal investment.
“Life is just getting more expensive,” notes IH Environmental Health Officer (EHO) Marion Masson. “Some people are selling food as a secondary source of income.”
