A publication for Staff and Physicians of IH
A message from Chris Mazurkewich, Interior Health’s new CEO.
Royal Inland Hospital profiled in groundbreaking CBC documentary.
Have you ever considered donating a kidney?
‘I don’t feel I’m in the right body.’
Physician believes lives will be saved with more transgender services.
New surgical centre benefits patients across IH.
Reducing risk by screening homes, workplaces, and public buildings.
Working to create environments that will positively impact our health.
Featuring Marc Hadford at Golden and District Hospital.
Snapshots of our staff in action and trending health-care videos.
Dr. Trevor Corneil and Caroldean Jude are passionate about supporting the transgender community. Story p. 10. The @InteriorHealth magazine is a monthly publication created by the Communications Department of Interior Health. Past issues of @InteriorHealth can be found on our website under About Us/Media Centre/Publications & Newsletters. If you have story ideas for future issues, please e-mail: IHAcommunications@interiorhealth.ca Deadline for submissions to the December 2015 @InteriorHealth magazine is Nov. 12. Editors: Amanda Fisher, Breanna Pickett Designers: Breanna Pickett, Kara Visinski, Tracy Watson IH Communications Contributors: Lesley Coates, Susan Duncan, Patrick Gall, Karl Hardt, Megan Kavanagh, Breanna Pickett, Erin Toews, Tracy Watson
Every person matters
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t feels good to be back. Walking into the Kirschner building on Oct. 26, my first day as Interior Health’s new CEO, felt a lot like coming home, but to a home that has changed a bit.
The organization has grown, developed, and matured over the last several years. From quality indicators, to physical structures, to service expansion and the introduction of new programs like cardiac surgery, it all adds up to positive change for our region – and that is exciting!
President & CEO, Chris Mazurkewich
What is still the same are the people. I have a lot of respect for the talented staff, managers, and physicians working for Interior Health. It is nice to see many of the familiar faces, to get re-acquainted; and I am enjoying the opportunity to meet a lot of new people as well. Returning to Interior Health after six years, I immediately noticed the message "Every person matters" being used throughout the organization. This resonated with me because it connects back to our values, and to our vision and mission. What we do in health care is all about people – from our staff and physicians, to our patients and clients, to all of our partners and stakeholders. I like seeing “Every person matters” front and centre – a clear statement of what we stand for and who we are. As a strong believer in the importance of people, I am focused on building relationships at all levels and particularly during my first few months on the job. A top priority is getting to know my senior executive team and orienting to an IH that looks and functions in a different way. I also want to get out and listen to people, chat with them, to get a feel for the organization from a geographic and program point of view and from different perspectives.
At Interior Health, we want to set new standards of excellence in the delivery of health services in B.C. and to also promote healthy lifestyles and provide needed health services in a timely, caring, and efficient manner. To achieve this, we are guided by the following strategic goals: Goal 1 Goal 2 Goal 3
Goal 4
The articles featured in the @IH newsletter are great examples of how we’re achieving our goals … and realizing our vision and mission.
It is just early days and I am already hearing teams talk about how they share across the region, exchange ideas and knowledge, and support one another. That is very positive, and I look forward to hearing more about our progress in the weeks ahead, as well as about those areas where we may need to focus more energy and effort. From my perspective, IH is in a good place right now. There may be points of different emphasis for me as the new CEO, but nothing radical. I am interested in how we can be even better as a whole.
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As a strong believer in the importance of people, I am focused on building relationships at all levels and particularly during my first few months on the job. It is encouraging to come into an organization where good things are happening, and to be given the opportunity to lead the next phase of our journey – building on our quality improvement progress; maintaining momentum with our engagement efforts, internally and externally; and helping to create a more sustainable future for IH by supporting innovation, championing change where and when it’s needed, and addressing financial challenges. My decision to come back is about wanting to help, to support, and to improve. I feel I can add value to the organization and what we do for the communities and the people we serve. So, for me, this new leadership role is about living the IH values and demonstrating in everything we do that every person matters – in partnership with all of you.
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he opportunity was risky, given that health-care workers are extremely protective of their patients’ right to confidentiality while in our care. But no one could deny that it was also very appealing.
The CBC was planning a documentary called Keeping Canada Alive that chronicled health care in Canada over a 24-hour period – May 6, 2015. That day, it would send 60 camera crews across the nation to film all manners of health care in action. Narrated by actor Kiefer Sutherland, whose grandfather Tommy Douglas is recognized as the founder of our national health-care system, it would be the Canadian version of similar series that had already aired in Britain and Norway. And the documentary producers, Force Four Entertainment, had asked Interior Health to participate.
“The experience was exciting,” says Kim Winters, professional practice lead in RIH Pharmacy Services. “We were proud to share our role, and the contributions we make to health care for our patients, with the country. What could be better?” The day began in the early morning hours and ended well into the evening, as the filmmaking crew of three (cameraman, sound technician, and production assistant) made the most of their allotted 24 hours.
Before the long and weary day would end, about 25 RIH physicians, nurses, residents, and students were filmed, along with a half dozen patients and their families. That included Mandy Kennedy, a registered dietitian; RN Lori Ann Orton, Dr. Chris Janz, and Dr. Jason O’Connell and their team in Labour and Delivery; Kim, clinical pharmacist Laura Burgess, and their colleagues in Initially there was hesitation. Then, recognizing the Pharmacy, and Dr. Denise Chapple, lactation consultant opportunity for what it was – a chance to show the great Lea Geiger, patient care coordinator Jan Kirkland, and work that IH’s physicians, nurses, and allied health partners their team in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). do each and every day – there came approval from Carol Laberge, RIH Health Services Administrator, and Heather Tracy Watson, Communications Officer for IH West, Cook, Executive Director, Acute Services. Following that, escorted the crew throughout the hospital, and ensured several weeks of hashing out details until finally May 6 that only patients, staff, and physicians who provided arrived and, with it, a camera crew at the doorstep of their consent would be identified in the final production. Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. “We had to put our faith in the professionalism of the On Oct. 4, the six-part documentary began airing on CBC. Force Four crew, that they would be respectful of each individual’s confidentiality and sensitive to the stories that Critics are hailing it as groundbreaking. were being told that day. And they were,” says Tracy.
“The entire experience was incredible, for all involved. It showed we truly have fantastic staff and physicians at RIH. We all felt we had been a part of something big that day.” There was nothing bigger than welcoming two new babies into the world in Labour and Delivery. The film crew also toured through the RIH Pharmacy with Kim, and then followed a story of a diabetic that involved not only pharmacist Laura, but also Mandy, and certified diabetes educator Gerda Faber. Mandy’s day actually began in the wee hours of the morning at her home, having breakfast with her family, and ended with her arrival back home that night. In between, she participated in rounds in the NICU, and met with a mother of a young boy whose nutrition was given through a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding tube. “Participating in the Force Four filming was a very exciting experience with the potential to be a spokesperson for all dietitians across Canada,” says Mandy. “It was a chance to showcase the wide range of patient types that registered dietitians meet in their day and demonstrate the vast ways that we can impact their lives.
Above: Baby Katherine is welcomed to the world by mom Randi Eckstrom, dad Tim Mavor, and big sister Kelsie Mavor. Below: Kim Winters, professional practice lead, is filmed in the RIH Pharmacy by the Force Four Entertainment film crew.
“I am disappointed that our story wasn’t chosen to air; however, I was honoured to be viewed by my hospital as a vital part of the team and hence chosen to participate. It was a very fun and exciting day and my entire family enjoyed the opportunity – truly once-in-a-lifetime!” Indeed, in the end, only one of the birth stories was chosen to air. It was the touching feature of a family who was welcoming a baby after a previous pregnancy ended in a stillbirth. The mother’s range of emotions as she simultaneously grieved her earlier baby’s death while labouring to welcome a new child was heart-wrenching. The other birth story and the Pharmacy story were included in the online footage streaming on the series website. Mandy was included in the Pharmacy story, but the rest of her day was unfortunately left on the cutting room floor – a possibility everyone knew existed, but was disappointing nonetheless. Lori Ann says the experience itself made it all worthwhile. “I’ve been watching the series and am enjoying it. It has been well done and it’s nice to see the perspectives from across the country,” she says. “Initially, I was protective of my moms’ personal space. By the second delivery I was much more relaxed due to (the cameraman’s) professional manner in the room. And it was such a profound story that I think will hit home with a lot of people. “We were so lucky to have both those birth experiences that day and the (story that aired) was so memorable. It was a great day!”
Visit the series website, www.cbc.ca/keepingcanadaalive, for episode recaps and streaming of online footage including: Behind the Scenes at a Hospital Pharmacy at 3:09:07. A Baby is Born in Kamloops at 8:16:50.
Genevieve and Lloyd Garner are all too familiar with the renal unit on 7 South at Royal Inland Hospital.
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hristmas 2012, Lloyd and Genevieve Garner were a family of two, comfortable and happy, but thinking they should share their good fortune.
Christmas 2013, they were the instant parents of three siblings, Joshua, 6, Josiah, 5, and Makayla, 4, adopted from a Lithuanian orphanage where they had spent most, if not all, of their lives. Christmas 2014, the family of five celebrated a fabulous year together. Lloyd describes it as the best year of his life. This Christmas, 2015, Lloyd will spend three days of the week on a kidney dialysis machine after he suddenly, without barely a warning, went into kidney failure in August. Now the Garners wait again for a gift that will change their lives – but this time it’s a kidney. His kids need him to get it. They’re wondering what happened to that energetic daddy who was always on the go, rolling about on the floor with them, laughing and playing. Lloyd’s faith has helped him find peace with the situation he is in today, but when he talks about how this devastating illness is affecting his children, his voice breaks. “They’re scared I’m going to die and they’ve had enough loss in their lives without this worry.” Last spring, Lloyd started feeling tired and sick. In April, he got a severe sore throat that he couldn’t really shake.
Left: Lloyd explains to Josiah, Joshua, and Makayla about hemodialysis. Gen says: “Wee Makayla pipes up, ‘So I get it, Daddy, the bad blood goes out and the good blood goes in, and then tickle time?’ The kids are so looking forward to the day when Lloyd is feeling better, life gets back to normal, and tickle therapy resumes.” Right: Little Makayla stops by for a bedtime cuddle and falls asleep in the safety of her daddy’s arms.
“I was just in an unhealthy fog, but my family doctor had no answers about the cause.” Then, one day in August, Lloyd awoke to legs that were grossly swollen from his feet to above his knees. Genevieve later referred to them as Fred Flintstone feet. A trip to the ER and then a specialist revealed his kidneys were operating at 15 per cent – a function rate that later dropped down to seven per cent and is now at nine per cent. To survive, Lloyd began hemodialysis in the renal unit at Royal Inland Hospital. This means almost a four-hour round trip from his home in the Cariboo for four hours of hemodialysis three times a week. In spite of the “fantastic care” from the renal staff – “they are amazing” – he hopes to start peritoneal home dialysis before Christmas. “It’s rare the kidneys recover on their own when the function rate is that low. The doctors have told me my best chance for continuing to live a healthy life is with a living donor transplant.” Genevieve, an Interior Health employee, says they are talking to friends and family about the Living Donor Program. “We are all born with two kidneys and they say we only need one to live,” says Gen, but adds, “We know it’s a huge thing to ask of someone. And how do you say thank you to something of this magnitude? I mean, it is giving life!” Maybe not, though, for the people who have been on the receiving end of Lloyd’s big heart. His friend, Darcy Kuhn, who has known him for more than 20 years, says it’s
usually Lloyd stepping up for people. “Lloyd is one of those guys who is always there for you. He’s there with time, with energy, with wise words or with an arm around your shoulder when you need him. I just love that guy.” Living donors don’t have to be related to the organ recipient. It can be any healthy person who is willing to donate and deemed through medical testing to be a match. In Lloyd’s case, the first requirement of a donor is A positive blood type. He’s also on the transplant list for a deceased donor, but the wait is likely three years and the success rate is better with a living donor. Information from The Kidney Foundation of Canada notes that people who receive an organ from a living donor live 15 to 20 years on average, compared to 10 to 15 years with a deceased kidney donation. Lloyd was excited to meet a man in 100 Mile House who lived for 24 years after a kidney transplant and only just recently had to return to dialysis. For more information, visit Living Donation on The Kidney Foundation of Canada website. Lloyd’s medical team can’t say for certain what caused his kidneys to fail. It could have been high blood pressure although past medical checkups never revealed it to be a concern. Everything else about him is in top condition. “I hope I get better. Nothing gives me more joy than being a dad.”
When he’s not a girl
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hanley Reeves wears his hair short and slicked back. Medical Health Officer for Interior Health, and provides At 15, his face is still smooth, but his voice is beginning transgender services for children and adolescents. to deepen. He is supported by IH Mental Health and Substance Use Like so many teenage boys, he’s a tough interview. He Administrative Assistant Caroldean Jude who is as smiles a lot, but gives short answers and rolls his eyes passionate as Trevor is about helping transgender people when his mom tries to help him out. No one can blame and their families “live awesome lives” by finding their true Marian if she is protective though. She vividly recalls a authentic selves. life-or-death situation four years ago with Shanley. “I can’t imagine not feeling right in my own skin,” says That was the day both she and her husband, David, had Caroldean. their parenting abilities put to the greatest test of their lives. She agrees there is a lot of misinformation about what transgender means. People assume that being transgender “I’ve thought about suicide,” Shanley, then 11, told his is about sexuality when really it is about identity. A female mother one evening as she and his sister, Sierra, sat transitioned to male does not automatically mean that you watching television. will be attracted to female partners. “What?” Marian remembers saying, as she scrambled to shut off the TV. “I don’t feel like I’m in the right body,” said her daughter Shanley.
For one thing, people assume transgender people are gay, but an adult male who transitions to a female may remain attracted to adult women.
Sierra, who already knew, asked, “Mom, haven’t you figured that out yet? Look how she acts.”
The issue is about gender identity, not sexual connotation, she explains. Transgender people are like everyone else – they exercise; they sleep; they eat; they love their families, friends, and pets; they have careers and hobbies. Their gender is just one part of their whole, says Caroldean.
“I just thought she was a tomboy like my older sister,” was Marian’s answer, although many memories began to surface, such as Shanley adamantly refusing to wear a frilly dress at 18 months and always gravitating to the boys’ clothing aisle or playing with toy cars.
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I don’t feel like I’m in the right body That was the day life started making sense for Shanley. Up to that point, this little girl whose brain told her she was a boy lived every day thinking about what was wrong with her.
“Gender variation is not abnormal or wrong, it is just different,” Trevor adds. “At Interior Health we do our best to celebrate difference in all of the work we do. But folks still have a lot to learn.” Shanley loves to ski and play video games, as well as hang out with friends, many of whom belong to the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, Queer) group, mostly because they understand what it’s like to feel different. Despite his busy role with IH, Trevor continues to help transgender teens, saying, for him, it is unethical not to provide services to transgender kids and young adults. “There must be access points in the system to support the mental and physical health-care needs of all transgendered persons. Right now, there are not enough.”
“I felt like there was no help and I would be forever trapped in this body,” says Shanley. “I knew I needed my parents’ The risk of suicide is extremely high when gender support to get help.” discordance or dysphoria is dismissed and no supports are provided. Identified early in an individual’s identity An informed family doctor in their hometown of Salmon Arm development, most transgender persons go on to referred the Reeves to Dr. Trevor Corneil. Trevor is Chief experience happy, healthy lives.
Dr. Trevor Corneil, left, and Administrative Assistant Caroldean Jude, far right, have worked with Shanley Reeves and his mom, Marian, and dad, David, to help him develop his true gender identity.
“We have learned so much in the last 20 years about the best way to help people who are struggling. As society becomes more inclusive of transgender persons, we are seeing more people of all ages coming forward for clinical support and care,” says Trevor. “As health-care providers, we need to catch up. We need more access points – more physicians, more counsellors, more support workers – to step up and engage in what is now a well-established standard of care. It just starts with saying ‘yes’ to providing care, and celebrating folks for who they are. The rest just flows from there.” After diagnosing Shanley as transgender, Trevor prescribed Lupron and then testosterone, common medications for people who are transitioning. “Your voice has already changed since I saw you last,” Trevor tells Shanley, who breaks into a grin. “He wants a
full beard,” Marian teases, to her son’s embarrassment. “I do not,” he says. Shanley will eventually have chest surgery, although the wait list is two to three years, and it will be a great day for him to be free of those feminine attributes. “Maybe it will be in time for our trip to Australia and you can surf without a shirt,” his mom says excitedly. Trevor says it has been a privilege to work with the Reeves family. “It’s a joy to have parents and a sister who have been so supportive. They have embraced and celebrated Shanley as their son and brother.” Shanley’s dad rejects the idea that they are special. “This child is loved regardless of gender or whatever. This is our child. Whether he’s a boy or a girl, I still have my kid,” says David.
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or Dr. Trevor Corneil, expanded health services for transgender people will make his clients’ lives better and ease the workload for those few clinicians who do see persons with gender discordance or dysphoria. Currently there are only three physicians, two nurse practitioners, one psychologist, and their medical office assistants who provide full gender consultation and/or comprehensive transgender primary care. They are spread unevenly across B.C.’s Interior region, and more than half of the care rests in the private versus public setting. Trevor says the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s Child and Youth Mental Health Services is beginning to offer more relevant services in the larger centres in our region, but it is not enough to meet the demand. The Provincial Health Services Authority announced earlier this month that cuttingTransgender teen Shanley Reeves good-naturedly lets his mother, Marian, edge work to offer expanded health services lean in for a kiss. for B.C.’s transgender communities will soon roll out across B.C. Its purpose is to support the development of more access points and better care for gender discordance persons both in the Lower Mainland and across the regional health authorities including Interior Health. An expert Provincial Transgender Steering committee, struck by B.C.’s Deputy Minister of Health and appointed by PHSA, has developed a provincial network model for person- and family-centred health-care services for transgender British Columbians. The committee, which includes trans-identified people, family representatives, and clinicians such as Dr. Corneil on behalf of Interior Health and its Senior Executive Team, reviewed current services and supports and gave input to strategies to meet the health needs of this population. Key focus areas of the model include community/peer support, primary care access and consultation, education for health-care providers, and gender-affirming surgery. Trevor has a long history of working with transgender people and he knows the importance of clinical and emotional supports. Socially, the changes have been dramatic. In 2005, a teen who told his parents he or she was transgender could almost count on being kicked out of the house. Peers were cruel and schools dismissive of the suggestion a female student was transitioning to male. Today, families may grieve the loss of a son or a daughter, but they defend their child’s right to find their gender identity. Friends, teachers, and principals equally embrace the transition. When Shanley Reeves revealed she was transitioning to a boy, the reaction from classmates was “ya, so?” The medical system is finally catching up with the introduction of the Provincial Transgender Strategic Plan, says Trevor.
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hat began as a long-term project to bring full cardiac surgery services to the Interior of B.C. for the first time in history is now a state-of-the-art integrated care and surgical facility that is benefiting residents right across Interior Health. The new Interior Heart & Surgical Centre (IHSC) opened for patient care on Sept. 28, at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH).
A key component of the IHSC is the cardiac surgery program – the first such program outside of Victoria and the Lower Mainland – which decreases the need for patients to travel long distances away from family and friends to receive life-saving care. Although it is now housed within the new facility, the program originally began in 2012 at KGH and has benefited more than 1,500 patients from every corner of the region. For example, more than 600 patients a year have open-heart surgery in Kelowna – patients that previously would have had to travel to the West Coast. In addition to cardiac surgery, the centre provides: urology; vascular; thoracic; gynecology; ear, nose and throat; orthopedics and orthopedics trauma; plastics; neurology; and other general surgeries. There is also a highly specialized hybrid operating room (OR) equipped with an advanced medical imaging device that enables minimally invasive surgery and allows multiple surgical teams to be in the same room at the same time.
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I was on call on the second day we were open and performed two emergency surgeries that evening
In 2013, when Darrell Porubanec’s son, Trevor, required surgery in a hybrid OR, there were only two in the province – neither of which was in the Interior. Trevor has Brugada Syndrome which increases his risk of sudden cardiac death; he lives with an implanted cardioverter defibrillator. Its lead wires had been recalled and the unit required extraction. The family spent $6,000 in travel costs for Trevor to have surgery in a hybrid OR in Vancouver. With the opening of the IHSC, not only does Interior Health now have the third hybrid OR in the province, thanks to donors like the Porubanec
Darrell Porubanec’s family will benefit from the province’s third hybrid OR being located in the new IHSC.
Dr. Richard Hooper (L), who spent more than a decade working toward a cardiac surgery program within IH, celebrates the IHSC grand opening with Dr. Mike MacLeod.
family, it is the most advanced hybrid OR in the country. At the official grand opening of the IHSC on Oct. 16, Darrell shared his family’s story, saying: “Thank you to the Province of B.C. and our Interior Health Authority for having the foresight to invest in the new IHSC infrastructure that will serve the medical needs of the Interior of B.C. for many years to come. Thank you to the KGH Foundation for fundraising to acquire the additional equipment our surgeons will use to provide world-class health services.” Also located in the IHSC are new private pre- and post-operative day surgery rooms; post-anesthetic recovery bays; and a cardiac surgery intensive care unit. On the third floor, a new medical device reprocessing (MDR) department is bathed in natural light, delivered through large windows and skylights. A new perinatal (maternity) unit, located on the top floor of the IHSC, opens in spring 2016. “I was on call on the second day we were open and performed two emergency surgeries that evening,” says Dr. Mike MacLeod, who is head of surgery at KGH. “I was pleased to see how well the employees were adapting to their new surroundings, and I was proud to be in the new IHSC. The patients seemed reassured by the attentive staff and the state-of-the-art facility. Everything went so well.” It took many people to successfully deliver the $381-million IHSC project including architects; construction trades people; the staff, physicians, and volunteers at the site; the hospital’s neighbours; local and provincial governments; the project team; and many more. The IHSC is the crown jewel of KGH which has truly become a modern, patient-centred teaching hospital. “I am so proud of our project team for its years of dedication and hard work on the new surgical centre,” says Norma Malanowich, Chief Project Officer and Corporate Director of Capital Planning. “It takes an incredibly multi-talented team of professionals to complete a project of this size.”
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adon gas is a colourless, odourless, naturally occurring radioactive gas found in the ground throughout the world, including right here in the Interior region. It is the second-leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, yet surprisingly many people have never heard of it. Our Health Protection team in IH is working hard to change that by raising awareness and promoting screening of homes, public buildings, and workplaces across the region. The B.C. Interior is considered to be at an elevated risk for radon exposure. Radon is produced in the ground by the decay of naturally occurring uranium found in soil and rocks. It can be found in the outside air at low levels but becomes more of a concern when it seeps from the ground into buildings where it can reach higher concentrations. “Radon gas is heavier than air and it tends to accumulate in low-lying areas like basements, ground floors, and crawl spaces,” says Greg Baytalan, Specialist, Environmental Health Officer. “Most buildings that are in contact with the ground will contain some amount of radon gas. It becomes more of a health concern when it reaches high levels and when people are exposed to those levels over longer periods of time.” When it comes to radon, the risk to health occurs over time. The higher the concentrations and the longer a person is exposed, the greater the risk to health. “The only way to know if radon levels in a building are high is to test. The current Canadian guideline for radon in indoor air is 200 Becquerels per cubic metre (200 Bq/m3); however, the lower the level the better,” adds Greg. “Health Canada recommends that buildings with levels from 200 – 600 (Bq/m³) be mitigated within two years, and those above 600 Bq/m³ within one year. Mitigation measures can be as simple as increasing ventilation or capturing radon before it enters the building; these measures often are up to 90 per cent effective at reducing levels.” The Health Protection team has been working with Health Canada to raise awareness and encourage screening of workplaces and other public buildings. One of the largest screening initiatives to date has targeted childcare facilities. Health Protection and the Office of the Medical Health Officer distributed radon detector kits to care facilities across the region; so far, 370 daycares have voluntarily initiated screening.
Greg Baytalan, Specialist, Environmental Health Officer, encourages everyone to screen their homes for radon gas.
“While the results for the vast majority (almost 90 per cent) were below Health Canada’s recommended guideline of 200 Bq/m³, we did have several facilities that were above,” says Greg. “In those cases we provided the facility with information on measures that can be taken to reduce radon levels. Many of those facilities have undertaken mitigation and have been successful at reducing their levels.” Recently, Health Protection in partnership with Plant Services and Workplace Health and Safety began screening IH facilities for the presence of radon gas. Detectors were sent out to 202 Interior Health owned or leased sites for radon screening. Mitigation plans to reduce radon levels will be developed for any sites exceeding the recommended guidelines. Testing and mitigating public buildings and workplaces are important ways to reduce the risk, but Health Protection also wants to encourage staff and the public to conduct testing in their homes. The cooler months (NovemberApril) are the best time to test your home for radon gas because windows and doors are often closed and rising warm air in a home draws more radon from the ground. Testing a home is easy and inexpensive. Detectors are available through the BC Lung Association or at your local hardware store. The time to get a kit is now! For more information on radon gas visit www.interiorhealth.ca/RadonGas or www.radonaware.ca.
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idewalks, playgrounds, bike paths, and gardens are all examples of different elements of our built environment.
Increasingly, evidence shows that the way a community is built impacts residents’ health on several levels, including their physical, mental, and social health. Walkable and well-connected neighbourhoods with higher density housing, active transportation options, and visually pleasing common spaces are all part of the mix in a healthy community. “I became involved in Healthy Community Environments in 2007,” says Pam Moore, Environmental Health Officer. “At that time, research was quickly emerging about the impact the built environment has on our health. Still, there were barriers to having discussions about risk factors associated with chronic disease and its link to the built environment with planners or elected officials. We spoke different languages.”
Environmental Health Officer Pam Moore is part of IH’s Healthy Built Environment team. The team helps empower communities to consider health impacts when planning transportation and other developments.
The goal of Interior Health’s Healthy Built Environment team is to support and empower communities to improve residents’ health and wellbeing through community plans, policy, and decisions. The team of eight works closely with others including our medical health officers, public health dietitians, community health facilitators, and tobacco reduction coordinators. The team has developed standard approaches for land development using a public health lens based on the five elements that make up a healthy community: healthy neighbourhood design, healthy transportation systems, healthy natural environment, healthy food systems, and healthy housing.
Community consultation in Clearwater helped guide the District’s transportation planning process, which included IH’s Healthy Built Environment team as well as Community Health Facilitator Jenny Green.
Interior Health is currently the only health authority with a central intake process (HBE@interiorhealth.ca) to receive local governments’ land use requests. This ensures the most current health evidence is available to local governments for them to consider when creating healthy public policy – ultimately resulting in a healthier community.
process, IH provided a health lens and evidence that strengthened the direction, engagement, and planning process for active transportation and injury prevention.”
An example is the collaboration that occurred two years ago on Clearwater’s Subdivision Servicing bylaw and transportation plan.
“We’ve been able to get our seniors out and about, which is important. I’ve seen them around town, getting around on their scooters, and I’ve noticed more people out walking,” adds Leslie.
The District of Clearwater and their developers partnered with Opus, Interior Health, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to realize the 25-year alternative traffic mode bylaw that focuses on Last year, the intake system reported 770 inquiries ranging healthy built environments. from formal requests from local governments as well as provincial agencies to development proponents and the “Today we are proud to say that we’ve been able to general public. implement standards in this bylaw in a new development within our community,” says Leslie Groulx, Clearwater’s “To support smaller local governments, we had to look Chief Administrative Officer. “This has led to further beyond the limited research on smaller communities and support of council to develop and implement these focus instead on those areas where a local government alternative transportation standards in our draft trails could make change,” says Pam. network plan.
“Interior Health and the District of Clearwater have a great track record for working together on health-promoting initiatives,” explains Jenny Green, Community Health Facilitator. “During Clearwater’s transportation planning
To learn more about the role of the built environment on our health, and how IH’s Healthy Built Environment team works to empower communities, visit our website.
Marc Hadford, Patient Care Coordinator @IH: Tell us about your position in IH. I am the Patient Care Coordinator (PCC) for a full-service acute care facility. At Golden and District Hospital, we have emergency, obstetrics, inpatient medical-surgical, and operating room/post-anesthetic recovery. My role is to oversee all of these departments and see that our patient care meets the standard of practice, and the patient need at any given time. I feel my role at the site is to be the glue that holds it all together at times; and I am also the agent of change when the team identifies areas for improvement or to roll out new initiatives.
@IH: What do you find exciting about your role? I really like the diversity that this role presents. There aren’t too many other facilities even in IH in which one PCC oversees all these departments and can also step in and take on patient care in any of them as needed. We have a really great team here in Golden and everyone really strives for a high level of excellence in patient care. We offer and have great up-take with staff education for training in all the areas, so that we can continue to maintain services seven days a week. It’s really exciting that I can go from working with trauma patients, to palliative care, to obstetrics, then into surgery, to neonatal support and maternal services, all in one 12-hour shift. Not to mention that the distance to other sites from Golden means we also have a transport component to our location that may see one in the back of an ambulance or riding in a helicopter in order to transport patients to a higher level of care. Seems pretty daunting to the outsider, I am sure, but that’s what we do here in Golden.
Cool fact: Marc Hadford's current office is the same room he was born in!
@IH: Is there a project at work you are particularly proud of?
I am really proud to have been a part of an initiative to work in collaboration with physicians in emergency, anesthesiology, pharmacy, and BC Ambulance Services to brainstorm and create a new protocol for transport of injured patients using a patient-controlled analgesia. This is basically pain medication doses controlled by the patients themselves, while en route to a higher level of care. No one has done this work anywhere in North America. Our physicians are conducting research now in order to change the face of pain control during patient transport from facility to facility. It feels good to know that I’ve been a part of that. This is just one example of the collaboration in our site and it takes a really great team of people and individuals to pull things like this off. I believe that’s what we’ve got in our site.
@IH: What is great about working in Golden?
I have worked at a few other sites in IH and I have to say again that the team engagement and cohesiveness is phenomenal in Golden. We have nurses initiating fundraising efforts and engaging the community so that we are building support to purchase those big ticket items that we might not otherwise have. We have engaged physicians who work collaboratively within the IH system and maximize our involvement and needs from IH. We have administration coming to the table on a regular basis and looking to meet those needs. Golden is a small town and this, if nothing else, creates a sense of community that flourishes in our work culture. Everyone is everyone else’s neighbour and I think it forces people to know who they are working with just that much more. I think this creates a real sense of belonging and everyone in Golden Hospital exists within that culture. It’s really great!
Golden & District Hospital
1,948
Inpatient days in a year
5,662
2
Hospital RNs delivered two of their current nurse colleagues
18
16
hospital beds
Natural childbirths
Gathered from 2014-2015 data
72
Total staff
Unscheduled emergency department visits
55
Years old
Kamloops Submitted by: Joanna Macaulay
Bridge Lake Submitted by: Anne Sales Kaslo Submitted by: Betty Kennedy-Popoff
Kelowna Submitted by: Yulia Yasko
Where We Live & Work ... A Spotlight on Our Communities Covering more than 215,000 square kilometres, Interior Health is diverse in nature and composed of vibrant urban centres and unique rural communities. Photos are submitted by employees and posted to the InsideNet. Select photos are featured in @IH.
Submit your photos of the beautiful places that make up IH on the InsideNet.
IH's Rural Simulation Mobile Training program recently visited Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake. From left, emergency and ICU nurse Marina Crick, Dr. Mike Garrard, and registered nurse Kim Ramier work with iStan to practise various trauma room scenarios. Read more about how our employees and physicians are trained outside the classroom in this Williams Lake Tribune story. (Photo Credit: Monica Lamb-Yorski, Williams Lake Tribune)
Aboriginal Health Director Brad Anderson happily gets his flu vaccine from Public Health Nurse Kim Schurack. Self report if you received a flu shot or plan to wear a mask at www.flu.interiorhealth.ca.
Staff, physicians, and community members gathered on Oct. 23 to celebrate during the Martin Street Outreach Centre open house in Penticton. The centre, which opened in May, helps connect mental health and substance use clients with physicians and other services. More than 350 clients have been connected with important primary care services, thanks to this partnership with local doctors.
This film provides insight into falls in long-term care settings; featuring interviews with older adults who have experienced falls and the staff who work to prevent them. Find more falls prevention resources at www.findingbalancebc.ca.
Each year in Canada, up to 7 million Canadians get the flu. Flu is very contagious and can spread quickly and easily. You can pass the flu on to others who may be at risk of serious complications. By getting the flu vaccine, you protect yourself and others because you are less likely to spread the flu. Learn more about where you can get a flu shot at www.immunizebc.ca/clinics/flu.
There are more than 10 million Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes. In this video, health-care professionals speak to people with diabetes. Patients gain confidence and skills to manage and cope while living with the diabetes disease. November is Diabetes Month and Nov. 14 is Diabetes Day. Learn more about diabetes at the Canadian Diabetes Association, www.diabetes.ca. Dietitian, nurse, and pharmacist services are available at www.healthlinkbc.ca.