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THE NORTH SHUSWAP KICKER
SEPTEMBER 2020
North Shuswap
Health Centre Society www.NSHealthCentre.ca
#2 – 3874 Squilax Anglemont Rd, Scotch Creek
250-955-0660 for Appointments • Foot Care Nurse - Sept 24 • Lab - Blood Collection, ECGs-
Wed & Fri - 8am to 12noon • Public Health/Baby Wellness Clinics Sept 29
Dr. Mistry Dr. Hickman Check clinic calendar at nshealthcentre.ca for doctor dates & clinic services
QUALITY FIBREGLASS DECKS
Great
selection of colors & designs to choose from Guaranteed workmanship Over 30 years experience Book early to ensure your deck is protected!
Serving the Shuswap and Salmon Arm area
250-838-6589
after 5pm
Transformation continues at NSHC…. By Gail McNeil-Oliver, NSHC Executive Director If you read the August Kicker, you will know that things are changing at the health centre with the addition of a full-time family physician! As this article goes to print, Dr. Bucarelli still awaits her BC License to be issued and we are hoping things will be in place for September. Another transformation at the health centre is a brand new 8’ wide ramp at the clinic’s entrance. Thanks to a couple of good Samaritans from Triton Docks, a new ramp was designed, installed, and donated to the health centre. The humble Triton team shared that they wanted to do this for our community! How fantastic! They also understood the importance of the design to aid those with mobility issues, for seniors, and for emergency personal making it easier to enter and exit the clinic. Triton Docks got it right! Thank you to everyone at Triton for making access to the health centre easier for our community members! With COVID-19 still part of our daily lives, we continue with COVID screening and physical distancing at NSHC. Necessary protocols add to our work, but greeting people at a locked door, managing low numbers of people in the clinic, and extra sanitizing are measures that are all necessary. We have also added plexiglass to our reception counter to continue to maintain physical distancing between staff and patients. By limiting patient
numbers in clinic, by patients and staff wearing masks, and with extra hand and surface sanitization, we are helping to keep our community safe. We still have reduced chairs in the waiting room and stacks of chairs waiting to be used again but due to COVID-19, those chairs just may have to find a more permanent storage spot! COVID-19 has also affected our ability to host the Great Scotch Creek WalkAbout so sadly we will not host the event this fall. It’s a big decision to cancel a community walk but the health centre board of directors and I felt that we needed to adhere to the COVID19 guidelines to simply avoid worry about the possibility of transmission of the virus. Airborne transmission plays a major role in spreading the virus and people who are considered “super spreaders,” can infect dozens of people at one single event or gathering. Scientists still do not know why some people are “super spreaders” and others are not; the majority of people infected will infect very few and a small minority of infected people will unfortunately spread the virus very aggressively. Even though the walk event is an outdoor event held in the Shuswap Lake Provincial Park, the potential for an outbreak is a real concern due to the amount of people who attend and volunteer. As we continue to transform as a clinic, and as a community dealing with COVID-19, we must contin(Continued on page 27)
