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Helping new managers is a dream job for Colleen McEwan (pictured above), who has become the first manager mentor in Interior Health.  Before her retirement, she worked as both a manager and a director in clinical operations for Interior Health in the Central Okanagan, North Okanagan and Thompson regions. Last fall, she returned on a part-time basis to pilot a manager mentor program at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) in Kamloops, where many managers are new to their roles.

Clint Blok, playing his guitar while camping Name: Clint Blok (he/him/his) Job Title: Community Integration Care Coordinator Years of Service: 11 Worksite: Penticton Urgent and Primary Care Centre Community: Penticton Ancestral Territory: Syilx Okanagan Advice to live by: Be the best version of yourself! When Clint began nursing school, he planned on working in the operating room (OR), but it turns out he’s never worked or done a placement there. Eleven years in to his career with Interior Health, Clint is a Registered Nurse (RN) Team Lead (or Community Integration Care Coordinator) at the Penticton Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC). 

A mother goose who hatched three goslings outside the Royal Inland Hospital labour and delivery room window needed a lot of human help to make it safely to the South Thompson River in Kamloops Monday and she wasn’t afraid to take it.  The labour and delivery staff had been keeping close watch via a baby monitor at the nursing station leading up to this point. The goslings hatched Sunday morning and on Monday before noon, took a harrowing leap from the third-storey roof, two of them landing in a walled enclosure.  Labour and delivery room nurse Dara Johnson and RIH facility maintenance crew members herded the goslings into a box to lift them out, reunited them with their mother.  Mother and babies waddled up the RIH back exit, escorted by the maintenance and labour and delivery team members. They settled on a grassy bank, seemingly headed to a nearby creek.  Unfortunately, the family stayed on the bank until about 4:30 and then walked north to a busy Kamloops street. Mother goose pecked persistently at the glass door of a the ahhYaY Wellness  Café when passersby tried to stop her from going into traffic. The owner let her in and she took her babies into a glassed-in area and settled down.  Enter, Kamloops Community Services and Kamloops Fire and Rescue. Firefighter Carson Schreiner said, “This is a first, never had to respond to a goose before.” After some head scratching, a dog kennel was produced, mother goose walked into it with her babies. A blanket over the kennel settled her down.  The crew drove her nine blocks to the riverbank, opened the kennel and out mother walked with goslings in tow. She took them into river, stopped once to turn back and honk a thank you at her rescuers and away they swam.  City of Kamloops Community Services (left to right): Ryan Bingley, KFR Carson Schreiner, KFR Cpt Norm Little, KFR Erik Rasche. Back at the ahhYay Café, a full disinfecting took place, although the goose was amazingly tidy for a goose. Check out CFJC Today Kamloops' story

Submitted by the Canadian Mental Health Association  You might have a thousand Facebook friends or followers on Instagram. Or maybe you have friends the “old-fashioned” way. In any case, we know that having a good community of friends is about the quality – and not the quantity – of our relationships. And communication is at the core. So, if we want to strengthen our relationships, practising the art of listening is an effective strategy.

Sandra Ohlemann (second from right), who lives in Creekside Landing, participates in a ground-breaking ceremony with (from left) Kevin Svoboda of Creekside Landing; Diane Shendruk, Interior Health VP of Clinical Operation North; Mable Elmore, Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors and Long-Term Care; and, Vernon Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu. On a sunny spring afternoon in Vernon, Sandra Ohlemann looked out at the flat lot around her, damp and muddy from a recent rain. Behind her was Creekside Landing, a long-term care home in Vernon. Beside her was an excavator, poised to begin digging the foundation of an expansion that will see 90 new spaces added to the facility. “We need more spaces for seniors to live, so watching the progress on the expansion every day is exciting,” she said. “As seniors, we need places to call home and here at Creekside Landing, this is my home.” Sandra made the remarks as part of an event to celebrate the launch of construction on the Creekside Landing expansion. She joined Mable Elmore, Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, as they together plunged a shovel into the dirt on the site – the small gesture symbolic of the province’s investment in 495 new long-term care beds in the Interior region. With B.C.’s aging population, seniors are in need of access to more services. Seniors care is a strategic priority for Interior Health, with a focus on coordinated access to team-based specialized community services. Also part of the 495-bed investment are projects in Kamloops, Nelson, Kelowna and Penticton. As someone who makes her home in assisted living at Creekside Landing, Sandra observed the need at a personal level. “In some cases, one spouse is in assisted living and the other is in long-term care, and they’ll visit each other every day,” she said. “They want to be together as long as possible, and more spaces would allow for that.” Sandra’s husband has passed away, yet her daughter and her family live in Vernon, visit her often, and have her over for Sunday dinners. At some point, Sandra and other seniors in assisted living may  require the further care afforded by long-term care. Staying close to family members is another reason to create more spaces in these communities.  Sandra Ohlemann takes to the podium to share her excitement about the Creekside Landing expansion Sandra’s life story is like many others of those in long-term care. There is individual history – rich in triumphs and struggles, love and loss – spanning generations of a person’s family and friends. There is also the collective history – the person’s contributions that have shaped their communities. Sandra’s story is itself weaved into the history of B.C.’s health-care system. For more than three decades, she worked as an operating room nurse in Victoria, Vancouver and finally Prince George. Her husband worked as a regional developer in each of these communities. Together they raised their daughter and son.  With her home now at Creekside Landing, she spoke of enjoying her daily walks by Vernon Creek where she spots deer, geese and, on occasion, blue heron. On the other side of the creek, excavators and bulldozers move earth to lay the groundwork for the new facility’s foundation.  “Next spring, I look forward to crossing the future footbridge to walk over here,” said Sandra, with a smile and the relish of someone who has never tired of the seasons.

Immunization and vaccines are important throughout your life. Vaccines are products that produce immunity to a specific disease. Immunization (or vaccination) protects people from disease by introducing a vaccine into the body that triggers an immune response.   Read on to find out five important things you should know about immunizations and vaccines, and visit our Immunization and vaccines page for more information.