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WEDNESDAY, March 21, 2012
NEWS BRIEFS Two per cent The College of New Caledonia’s Board of Governors voted in favour Friday of raising tuition by 2 per cent for the 2012/13 academic year. The move is estimated to generate about $100,000 for the college, which is working on eliminating a more than $2 million projected budget shortfall for next year. “It will help somewhat, but we still have a lot of work to do,” CNC President John Bowman said. “A 2% tuition increase will work out to about an additional $5 per course or about $50 per year for full-time students, depending upon their program of studies.” The college is working to resolve a potential $2.3 million budget shortfall for the 2012/13 fiscal year, due to rising costs and declining income from tuition revenue and status quo government funding, which was outlined in the provincial budget last month.
Playfair recognized Year one of the Langley Rivermen era is in the books, and a Fort St. James player drew some attention. The junior A hockey club, which failed to qualify for the BCHL playoffs, wrapped up its regular season with a 1935-1-5 record. The team held its year-end banquet on March 12. The most improved player award went to rookie forward Jackson Playfair from Fort St. James. After a slow start in the season’s first half, Playfair began to find his game, finishing with six goals and a dozen assists.
◆ Logging truck crash P. 8 ◆ Fields stays open P. 3
◆ Senior girls B-ball P. 2 ◆ Tourism in Fort P. 5
VOL. 35 NO. 03 $1.34 inc. GST
Sliding into second
Harley Everson slides the flat-down-flat rail during the Murray Ridge Rail Jam March 11. Everson took second place in the Rail Jam competition and second place in the Big Air competition as well, proving his skills are not only good, but diverse as well. For story, see Page 7. Ruth Lloyd Photo
Double stabbing Apryl Veld Omineca Express At approximately 11:00 PM on March 9th, 2012, members of the Prince George RCMP responded to the University Hospital of Northern BC for a report of two persons being stabbed. Just before the report was made to police, two men were dropped off at the hospital with injuries consistent with being stabbed. The first male, a 23 year old resident of Vanderhoof, BC, suffered a laceration to his head. The second man, a 28 year old resident of Fort St. James, BC, suffered a puncture to his left abdomen. Both men are expected to recover. “One (victim) is still in hospital ... we expect he will recover,” Corporal Craig Douglass of the Prince George RCMP said.
Investigators believe the assaults occurred in a residence on the 2200 block of Spruce Street in Prince George. Investigators believe this to be a targeted attack and that alcohol was a factor. This investigation is continuing the RCMP noted, but no suspects have been taken into custody. “We will be doing more interviews, but it is difficult to speak to the victim who is in hospital,” Cpl Douglass said. The police are asking for information from the public on this incident. If you have any information about these serious Criminal offences, please contact the Prince George RCMP at (250)561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1(800)222-TIPS (8477), online at www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca, or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES using keyword “pgtips”.
Model modification Northern Health hopes to use different model to attract doctors Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier A “primary care centre” is being developed which may help make Fort St. James more attractive to physicians and other health care practitioners. Northern Health has gone public with some of what they have been working on with local community leaders, First Nations in the area, Dr. Stent and a consultant to help address the physician shortage in the area. According to Sue MacDonald, northern interior medical director, “there is significant work going on within Northern Health,” and all parties are “working as a collaborative team to develop this primary care clinic.”
The plan is to move from a traditional family physician model to one they are calling a primary care home model. This means that instead of a private medical clinic where physicians work independently and are paid via a fee for service model, they would work in a clinic alongside other health care practitioners such as nurse practitioners. Physicians would also be paid using an alternative payment model. The hope is this different model will provide a more “multi-disciplinary and integrated team working together to take care of the patient,” said MacDonald. The health care practitioners in this model may include physicians, nurse
practitioners, physiotherapists, and mental health and addictions counsellors. “It allows for a more sustainable type of model to provide for care,” said MacDonald. She hopes this model will also help to address the physician recruitment and retention issues the community has been suffering from, because other communities using this model have had good success in recruiting and retaining physicians over the long term. The model is also aimed at managing more chronic or long-term illnesses, and hopefully therefore decreasing the need for emergency room care for these patients. Continued on Page 3