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KELOWNA FUSION MVP Tanya Hall helped lead her team to a Canadian ladies B slo-pitch championship last weekend.
COLUMNIST Maxine DeHart says Re/Max will celebrate 30 years in business operating out of Kelowna this month.
SOME helpful hints offered on what ingredients to be wary of on food labels by Kelowna naturopath Emina Jasarevic.
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THURSDAY August 8, 2013 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
▼ WFN
Construction of private hospital starts in October Wade Paterson STAFF REPORTER
members. The new car share program launched in Kelowna on Wednesday.
▼ KELOWNA
Co-op car sharing initiative launched Christian Brandt says Kelowna’s new car share co-op program is a membership-driven operation. And he’s not just talking about people driving its cars. Brandt, who saw his dream of establishing the first car-share program in the city realized Wednesday with the launch of the Okanagan Car Share Co-op, said now it is up to the public to buy
memberships if they want to see it expand into more areas of the city. “We can only expand as new members sign up,” he said. He said if groups of 20 or more get together and buy memberships in a given area, the co-op will look at placing a vehicle here. He said areas where interest has already been expressed include Glenmore, Rutland, the Mission and in the Landmark Square technology campus area just off Harvey Avenue.
The car share co-op launched Wednesday with two vehicles, both of which are currently parked downtown in spaces provided by the city. It’s first vehicles are a hydrid Toyota Prius, paid for in part by a $17,000 donation from Interior Savings Credit Union, and a Nissan Versa, contributed to the program by Urban Systems. On Wednesday, local MP Ron Cannan said the federal government is giving the program
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up to 84 months on selected models
$29,600 to help with its start-up costs. Brandt said to date the co-op has 35 members, all of whom paid a refundable $500 membership fee. The cost of “borrowing” a car is $3 per hour and 45 cents per kilometre. There is a $3 booking fee that only applies for the first four bookings made by a member in a single month.
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McCurdy Rd.
Leathead Rd. Hwy 33w
250-860-7700
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Alistair Waters
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ALISTAIR WATERS/CAPITAL NEWS
CHRISTIAN Brandt; executive director of the Okanagan Car Share Co-op, sits in one of the first two OGO cars available to local car share co-op
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Ground will be broken on Canada’s first-of-its-kind private hospital in two months. Referring to the facility as Okanagan Integrated Medical Centre, Westbank First Nation Chief Robert Louie said construction on the estimated $125-million luxury hospital will take 26 months; therefore, the medical centre will likely open in late 2015 or early 2016. “All the work is being done to get this medical centre up and running,” said Louie. “We have a lot of partnerships—close to several hundred millions of dollars at stake here.” The proposed 100-bed, 200,000 square-foot private health facility will focus on all medical services except emergency, obstetrics and psychiatric care. The target patients are foreign medical tourists, as well as Canadians who would otherwise leave the country to receive expedited private health care. It will be built northeast of the band office on the south side of Highway 97. “We’re basically meeting daily, around the clock…to get the right people involved so that this goes without flaws,” said Louie. “It’s going to be first-class when it’s up and running. We’re going to have some of the most professional people in the world involved with this facility…we’re not looking at having mistakes made.” Part of that strategy may involve a partnership with a reputable entity such as Johns Hopkins Medicine International. Currently, Johns Hopkins Medicine International has branches in five continents, including Medcan Clinic in Toronto, which has more than 30,000 clients and focuses on prevention through early detection of health risks before symptoms occur. Last year, Gary Stephenson—former director of media relations and public affairs—confirmed Johns Hopkins international sector had begun talks with WFN regarding the private facility. Stephanie Desmon, senior media relations representative with John Hopkins Medicine, issued a statement to Capital News Wednesday that indicated those discussions are still in a “preliminary” stage.