Interior Health Authority
This year’s flu vaccine to target relatively vicious strain
KELOWNA – If you feel like this fall has already been worse than others for getting a cold or the flu, Interior Health has some bad news for you. It won’t peak for another month. According to Interior Health medical officer Kamran Golmohammadi the influenza virus and all the other viruses that cause flu-like symptoms...
Kelowna General Hospital could face fines for laundry room crushing accident
KELOWNA - A workplace accident that saw a laundry worker crushed by automated equipment at Kelowna General Hospital resulted in a number of work orders from WorkSafe B.C. And Alan Davies, regional director of support services, says the Interior Health Authority could eventually face some fines over the infractions that saw the young laundry worker...
New residential care home moves ahead in Vernon
VERNON - A total of 85 new residential care beds are in the works for Vernon and with the recent awarding of the contract they are getting closer to reality. Interior Health announced the project and then issued a request for proposals back in February. A total of 10 submissions were received and H &...
Cloudy brown water soon a thing of the past in Glenmore Ellison
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - It’s taken almost seven years and $20 million, but residents who have endured near constant water quality advisories in the Glenmore Ellison area are getting some relief. Darwin Kutney, geneal manager of the Glenmore Ellison Improvement District, says its new Okanagan Lake intake and pump station plus a closed reservoir are set...
What Interior residents need to know about the killer gas radon
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It sounds like something from a thriller sci-fi movie - a colourless, odorless radioactive gas that seeps from the ground, infiltrates buildings and kills people. In real life, radon gas is a known carcinogen, the second leading cause of lung cancer accounting for 10 per cent of cases and is found in elevated...
When one of the best places to eat in town is the hospital
VERNON - Like airline fare, hospital food has a certain stereotype associated with it, but in Vernon and across the Interior, those perceptions are changing one home-cooked meal at a time. The meatloaf, for example, is just like mom used to make it, says Interior Health Authority food production manager Ron Eichberger of his favourite...
High bacteria levels prompt swimming advisory at Vernon’s Kal Beach
VERNON - That last swim of the summer might not feel so refreshing after you read this. An advisory is in effect recommending people not go swimming at Kal Beach due to high counts of E. coli in the water. Jennifer Jacobsen, a team leader for environmental health with the Interior Health Authority, says the...
Two family doctors leaving Kamloops
KAMLOOPS - The city is about to lose two more doctors after a husband and wife team announced they’ll be leaving their North Shore practice. Last week the Aspen Medical Centre notified its patients that family doctor Arshad Mahmood and his wife Dr. Ambreen Bushra would be relocating, leaving solely Dr. Howie at the practice....
Why vaccinating 71 per cent of 7-year-olds in southern Interior should have you worried
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - To prevent a measles outbreak, 95 per cent of the population is required to be vaccinated, but the province’s southern Interior isn’t meeting that requirement with only 71 per cent of seven-year-olds vaccinated between 2012 and 2014. With the latest school year comes the annual round of vaccinations and kids will bring reminders...
Health authority moves on residential care bed promise
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Construction of 100 new residential care beds will begin this fall in Kelowna and another 85 are soon expected in Vernon as well. The Interior Health Authority announced in a press release it has awarded the contract to Baltic Properties, an existing contractor who is already providing residential care services in Kamloops, Lake...
Whooping cough still a concern as school approaches
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - With the first day of school approaching, parents should remember a recent spike in potentially fatal whooping cough has only just began to drop. “We have been in communciations with schools informing parents about communicable diseases in general and the fact we have been observing increased cases of whooping cough,” Dr. Kamran Golmohammadi...
Interior Health may review case after senior receiving home care burned to death
KAMLOOPS - Interior Health may conduct a review of a Kamloops senior's file to determine if there should be improvements to senior care after the woman died from injuries relating to a fire in her home. Matilda ‘Tillie’ Olineck, 72, was smoking a cigarette before she caught fire in her chair at the Glenfair senior's...
Laundry worker seriously injured at Kelowna General Hospital
KELOWNA - WorkSafe BC is investigating a serious workplace accident where a laundry worker was caught up in machinery at Kelowna General Hospital. In an emailed statement, Alan Davies, director of support services for the Interior Health Authority, confirmed the accident happened last Friday, Aug. 21. "Our thoughts are with our employee and their family...
Ashcroft and Logan Lake could have doctors within six months
THOMPSON-NICOLA - With the loss of community doctors in both Logan Lake and Ashcroft residents have had limited health care options for a significant period of time, but that could change by February as the province continues with a program to bring international doctors to rural communities. Dr. Nancy Humber, the community medical director for...
Whooping cough on the rise across Interior Health region
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - An increase in cases of whooping cough across the Interior Health Authority, but primarily in the Central Okanagan, has prompted a warning from public health officials. Medical health officer Dr. Kamran Golmohammadi says in 2015 there has already been 58 confirmed cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, with 36 of them...