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Interior Health Authority

Kamloops has two New Year’s babies

KAMLOOPS – There were two New Year’s babies born in Kamloops yesterday. The baby girls were both born at Royal Inland Hospital at 12:35 a.m., Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, according to Interior Health spokesperson Tara Gostelow. Gostelow says Lauren and Cole Martin of Kamloops welcomed their first born Harper Noelle Martin who weighed 7 lbs.,...

Crane at Royal Inland Hospital construction site set to come down

KAMLOOPS - Construction on the Royal Inland Hospital’s clinical services building and parkade continues move along, with a summer 2016 opening date being planned. “With exterior work nearly complete, the building is transforming into a modern healthcare facility and parking structure,” Tracy Watson of Interior Health says. When the pedestrian bridge was placed Sept. 25,...

West Kelowna close to finalizing deal for new City Hall

WEST KELOWNA – West Kelowna is taking the next step in the process of building a new city hall and civic centre. The city is wrapping up negotiations with a developer to build the complex and now will ask taxpayers for permission to borrow up to $10.5 million, according to a media release. “This is...

New Interior Health CEO praises South Okanagan-Similkameen health care

PENTICTON - Provincial capital funding for health has been outstanding in the past decade, according to the new Chief Executive Officer of Interior Health. Chris Mazurkewich and other Interior Health officials met with members of the press this week to discuss local health issues as he toured the South Okanagan-Similkameen. “I think the track record...

Another reprieve for Interior Health laundry workers

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The Hospital Employees’ Union is welcoming news that Interior Health is delaying its decision to contract out laundry services. New Interior Health President and CEO Chris Mazurkewich says in a release today, Nov. 25, not to expect a decision before March 2016. He’s been on the job less than a month and wants...

Routine HIV testing rolls out in Interior Health hospitals

Patients can expect to be offered an HIV test when receiving blood work in Interior Health hospitals. To date, seven Interior Health emergency departments have started offering an HIV test routinely and additional sites are expected to be on board in the coming months. “B.C. is recognized as a global leader in the fight against...

Interior Health Authority old stomping ground for new CEO

KELOWNA - The new head of the Interior Health Authority spent the first week on the job travelling and expects to to do a lot more before things settle down. “I was out talking with staff, physicians, community leaders, volunteers. I’m just going around to communities and listening to what people are telling me. I...

Flu shot season in the Southern Interior

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - With the peak of flu season just a few weeks away, Health Canada has started its yearly vaccination program. Although last year’s flu vaccine wasn’t particularly effective, Interior Health medical officer Kamran Golmohammadi says, this year’s vaccine cocktail will target the more severe of the two types of viruses – Type A. Every...

Penticton hospital care facility temporarily locked down after verbal threat

PENTICTON - A fired employee threatened a manager last week, putting a long term care facility at Penticton Regional Hospital in lockdown. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, an employee of the facility who was fired threatened a manager while leaving, stating the manager 'wouldn’t make it out of the building alive,' Penticton RCMP media spokesperson Cpl....

Pilot project could put baskets of free condoms in Okanagan schools

VERNON - Baskets of condoms could soon be coming to local high schools as way of putting protection in the hands of those who need it — no questions asked. About 14 schools in B.C.’s Interior have free condoms available, but students have to ask for them, Vernon School District health coordinator Christine Balfour says....

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...

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...

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...

New president and CEO announced for Interior Health

KELOWNA - A new president and chief executive officer has been named for the Interior Health Authority. It was announced at a board meeting today, Oct. 6, that Chris Mazurkewich will take over as president and CEO on Oct. 26. He is replacing Dr. Robert Halpenny, who announced his resignation earlier this year. Halpenny’s last...

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...

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...

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...