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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2020 | Volume 33 No. 62
WEATHER
RARE FIND
Sunny High 2 C Low -1 C
Old guitar is worth much more than its owner imagined
SNOW REPORT Sun Peaks Resort Mid-mountain: 86 cm Alpine: 92 cm Harper Mountain Opening Dec. 12
STAFF REPORTER
michael@kamloopsthisweek.com
Some employees at Royal Inland Hospital are frustrated with a lack of parking spaces — a situation that has left staff feeling unfairly targeted amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and calling for a long-term solution to a situation deemed dangerous. According to multiple nurses, who have asked to remain anonymous, staff are having difficulty finding onsite parking as lots reserved for them have waiting lists. Meanwhile, Interior Health has told them they cannot park in the Clinical Services Building parkade fronting Columbia Street as it is reserved for patients and visitors. Staff who do park there are being ticketed despite the lot being not at capacity and parking stalls being offered free of charge during the pandemic. Offsite lot locations, such as in Peterson Creek, have left some employees feeling unsafe making the lengthy walk to and from the hospital in the dark and during inclement weather. A nurse who sent KTW a letter said while parking is free, staff who don’t have passes have nowhere to park that is safely lit and less than a 20-minute walk away. Another nurse told KTW she was ticketed three times in November for parking in the Clinical Services Building’s parkade. She said many of her colleagues have also been ticketed, noting it seems as though enforcement has been
Read how the Y Women’s Emergency Shelter helps those in need
PAGE A11
RIH staff cite stress of parking problem MICHAEL POTESTIO
HELP KTW HELP OTHERS
ramped up in the past few months. She said some staff inevitably have to park there due to a lack of staff passes in approved parking areas. “I think it’s ridiculous. It’s COVID, we’re going into the trenches. Everyone else in the world is celebrating their health-care workers and these guys are charging us 30 bucks a pop,” the nurse said. “The hospital’s so empty. I don’t know why now they’re choosing to come down on staff.” The nurse said she has been on the waiting list for a parking pass for years and has recently borrowed a friend’s to avoid being towed. She said advice from management via email has been to take the bus or carpool to the hospital. “Really? You’re telling us to carpool in the middle of COVID?,” she said. A second nurse told KTW she received a ticket last week for parking in a staff overflow lot — a decision made to avoid what she views as an intimidating walk between RIH and the Peterson Creek lot for which she does have a pass — and where she has observed people camping under the Highway 1 bridge. She said she the overflow lot has decent lighting and a panic button, whereas the Peterson Creek lot is poorly lit with no such emergency button. “I refuse to park there on my day[s] where I have to walk down there in the dark, dark, dark at 7:30 p.m. at night,” she said. See STAFFERS, A6
PAGE A5
In this undated photo, renowned entomologist Jack Gregson is carrying about 60 pounds in his pack as he hikes in the Kamloops region. KAMLOOPS OUTDOOR CLUB PHOTO
THE NAME TRAILS ON Railway expansion closed the short but popular Jack Gregson Trail, but the Gregson monicker will grace another pathway in the city
STORY, PAGE A35
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