Name: Leanne Brace (she/her/hers)Job Title: Social WorkerYears of Service: 8Worksite: Primary Care Network (Fruitvale and Rossland)Community:  Kootenay BoundaryAncestral Territory: Syilx and KtunaxaFavourite Quote / Advice to live by: "After all, tomorrow is another day." - Scarlett O'Hara Born at the Trail Regional Hospital (now Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (KBRH)), Leanne was raised in Fruitvale. Her patience and passion for helping others brought her to choosing a career in social work.  During her studies in the Bachelor of Social Work Program, Leanne took an adventurous step to enter in an exchange program. Travelling all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee to continue her academic journey, she learned another important lesson – she loves the South! Her Tennessee interests ranges from football to sweet tea and everything in between.  Once Leanne returned to Canada from her exchange program, she graduated from the University of Calgary, Lethbridge campus with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2009. 

Dementia and delirium often get confused. Knowing how to differentiate between the two might save the health of a loved one’s brain. Why do we need to increase awareness about delirium? Because delirium is a medical emergency—as much a medical emergency as chest pain. In older adults, conditions like pneumonia and urinary tract infections can cause confusion. But acute appendicitis, a heart attack, infection and a thyroid storm (thyrotoxicosis) can also cause confusion, and require immediate medical care.

Name: Barb Burke (she/her/hers)Job Title: Team Lead, Home Support Transformation ProjectYears of Service: 41Worksite: Kamloops Public Health        Community: Hybrid – Home and Penticton Regional HospitalAncestral Territory: Sylix NationFavourite Quote / Advice to live by: “Family is everything” During her 41 years working at Interior Health (IH), Barb Burke, team lead, Home Support Transformation Project, has worked in almost every department in the hospital. She says she loves the challenge of work, but most importantly she loves helping people. “I started in the laundry at Penticton Regional Hospital on Feb. 14, 1983. I’ve worked in almost every department that you can think of," she says. "My favourite was probably the operating room. I love the challenge of work, but I love helping people. No matter what I was doing, whether it was working in admitting, switchboard, or housekeeping, you’re always helping someone.”

Thirty years ago, Shawn Penno moved from Kelowna to Armstrong to be with his now wife. He had been working as a manager in building products in Kelowna but missed being in health care. “Both my wife and her mom had been care aides, and I thought, it will take just six months of training to become a community health worker and then I’d go from there,” he says. “But I got into it, and I loved it.” Today, Shawn is not only a community health worker, but a union shop steward, an instructor for safe patient handling, and a co-chair of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee. “It’s been a lifelong journey. I had been in medical school for a couple of years but had to leave for family reasons. I had a nurse once tell me, ‘You should be an RN.’ But I love where I am. I love the hands-on care and knowing so many people in town.” Community health workers play an important in delivering care in the comfort of people's homes. Every day, hundreds of health workers across Interior Health visit thousands of clients to provide a range of services so they can live independently at home.

Foundations in the Interior Region raise funds that support medical equipment, care needs, and innovative local initiatives in their communities. Each organization includes respected community leaders, volunteers and staff who are passionate about meeting the needs of patients and families in Interior Health. Thanks to the generosity of their supporters, we all have a stronger health system.  In this first story of our series on the incredible health-care and hospital foundations throughout our region, we interviewed Lisa Pasin, Executive Director, Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital (KBRH) Health Foundation. This post was updated June 2025.

Name: Joanne Juras (she/her/hers)Job Title: Public Health NurseYears of Service: 25Worksite: Kamloops Public Health        Community: KamloopsAncestral Territory: Tk’emlups te SecwepemcFavourite Quote / Advice to live by: “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” ― James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Joanne Juras grew up as far away from the B.C. Interior as one can imagine. Born and raised in Sierra Leone until she was about six years old, Joanne lived in a town without running water. Her mom, an American, was a midwife who delivered babies, while her British father was a school teacher who made life interesting for the family at home. “My dad, as a science teacher, collected a lot of animals. We had a pet monkey and all sorts of pets―armadillos, he brought in snakes. I remember all that stuff,” she says. The family moved to Winnipeg when she was six and Joanne later moved to B.C. on her own.

Opened in July 2022, the nine-story Phil and Jennie Gaglardi Tower at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) is a state-of-the-art facility that serves Kamloops and surrounding communities.  Not only was the tower built with direct input from medical staff, health-care teams, local health-care workers and Indigenous partners, it was also designed and built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards. 

Nestled just east of the Cascade Mountains along Highway 3, at the juncture of the Similkameen and Tulameen rivers, lies Princeton. The small town of just over 2,800—whose slogan is “Where rivers and friends meet”—is known for its forestry, mining and ranching, as well as outdoor pursuits like bird watching and fishing. It’s also a town that’s becoming known for its resiliency. Princeton has seen more than its share of adversity, from devastating floods in 2021, to wildfires and evacuations, to a persistent boil water notice since Dec. 2021. There’s a “can-do” ethic shared by Princeton residents, and these disasters have brought the town and residents together. It’s this same sense of community and can-do ethic that have brought the community together to help transform conversations around alcohol.

Brynn and Hayden are youth in the Interior who have lived experience with substance use. They teamed up with Interior Heath to promote new services for their youth peers. The SAY project was launched in 2023 to promote the new substance use services Interior Health created specifically for youth across the region. Hayden and Brynn (not their real names) helped create the campaign to spread the word about these services. Check out the Substance Use Services Available for Youth (SAY) In this blog post, they share what the SAY project is all about, and what it means to them.