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Gazette Grand Forks
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Who was that moustached man?
The month of November ended and with it the Movember campaign, where men grew moustaches to raise awareness about men’s health issues. Pharmasave issued a challenge to all men in Grand Forks. Who won the moustache challenge? See page 3.
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Ingrid Mathison 250 442-3425
Day of Remembrance
Possible norovirus cases in the area
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❚ Dec. 6
VOL 115 NO. 49
❚ HEALTH
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page 10
❚ TRAILS
Paving project proposed from Grand Forks to Lake CASSANDRA CHIN Gazette Reporter
Work is underway to connect Grand Forks to Christina Lake with development of the Cascade Kettle River Heritage Trail. The goal of the Grand Forks Community Trails Society is to develop trails around the area and hopes to connect the 17.5 kilometres between Grand Forks to Christina Lake with an accessible trail as a part of the continuing Trans Canada Trail. The trail would also cross through the Boothman’s Oxbow Provincial Park and the Gilpin Grasslands Provincial Park. “The Grand Forks Trails Society is creating a vision for the community,” explained Chris Moslin, chair of the Grand Forks Community Trails Society. “It’s really a stretch of land that the community knows really well because there’s a lot of history and a lot of folklore associated with this route.”
Demystifying Wealth Management Free Workshop Thursday, Dec. 6 • 6 pm - 8 pm Grand Forks Credit Union Call Selkirk to register 250-442-2704 Refreshments & Door Prizes
Broken into three stages, the first stage starting from 68th Avenue has already begun with the help of Roxul, which has been updating its parking lot and the path behind their property. “It’s all about the process; every process has a timeline, intake and rules,” Moslin said. “With the construction of Roxul’s parking lot and the leveling – (it’s) pretty committed to developing that area. It looks all right now but in 20 years there will be bushes and plants and a really nice entrance and parkway off of 68th.” The first stage, beginning at 68th Avenue will continue up until Nursery Trestle and is estimated to cost around $101, 640. The second stage will continue from Nursery Trestle up through Gilpin Grasslands Provincial Park at the estimated cost of $1,029,900, and the final stage will be from the Gilpin area to Cascade Gorge Trestle at the estimated cost of $416,700.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
A gastrointestinal (GI) bug was suspected at the Boundary Hospital in Grand Forks last week. According to Cindy Crane, acute health service administrator for Boundary Hospital, the hospital had to limit visitors and there were a number of suspected cases out in the community as well. “We’ve had some patients with those symptoms here. Four of our 12 patients have had some GI symptoms, which is basically the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, so that was in the middle of last week,” Crane explained. “We did enhance our housekeeping and started our isolation procedures. The good news is as of (Monday) morning, all of those patients have cleared – basically they’ve had 48 hours of none of the GI symptoms.” Crane said that 10 hospital staff members were also affected and they too were free of symptoms for 48 hours before they returned to work. “It’s definitely in the community,” Crane said. “We have not isolated yet the exact organism. We’re making the assumption that it is a norovirus but until we have test results back from the BC Centre for Disease Control, which may be (Monday) afternoon, that will be our definite confirmation that it is the norovirus.” Samples were collected on Thursday and Friday, Crane said, and because of the weekend may not be processed yet however. Results were not known at press time. While a bulletin wasn’t issued, Crane said warning signs were posted throughout the acute ward of Boundary Hospital, because the bug was in the acute areas. “We didn’t put a halt to admissions or discharges but certainly we had those four patients in isolation and physicians were made aware. We’re doing the things we would normally do for any type of isolation – wearing the gowns and masks and gloves,” explained Crane, add-
A warning sign posted at Boundary Hospital last week.
ing that she is stressing that people use proper hand hygiene by hand washing. She said the hospital did let visitors know about the patients in isolation and said that the bug may have been around for a few weeks. “This is just by word of mouth and also from our staff. Again, until we isolate it and I don’t know if anyone in the community has had test results back. I don’t have any sense of how many people are out there but obviously, just for the number of staff that were here that experienced symptoms, it really has been going on for the last, probably two or three weeks in the community as close as we can tell,” Crane estimated. “It does happen in the fall and into the winter for certain.” Again, she said that the exact nature of the bug is not currently known but generally speaking, in cases of a serious outbreak, a warning would come from the public health realm. “It would be a public health warning from the medical health officer, so that’s how it would come out and there hasn’t been that determination yet,” Crane explained. “Good handwashing and proper handwashing are the best ways of preventing the virus and reducing its spread and that goes for the community as well,” she said. See www.grandforksgazette.ca for updates.
Christmas Bake Sale Tuesday, December 18 All proceeds to the Community Christmas Hamper Program Angel Tree
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