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WEDNESDAY, March 5, 2014
NEWS BRIEFS
Gun scare at high school
And they’re off!
Daylight savings - 2 a.m. Sunday March 9 clocks “spring forward” one hour. Move clocks one hour ahead before going to bed on Saturday night.
Salmon chefs wanted
For those dreaming of summer fun already, the Fort St. James National Historic Site is offering an idea. The historic site is looking for teams for their annual New Caledonia Salmon cook-off. Teams are given salmon and they can prepare it any way they like over a fire at the historic site on July 19, 2014. The competition was won last year by the Nak’azdli team Nu Yiz Nabobs. Teams interested in participating can contact Bob Grill at 996-7191 ext. 21.
Help for Ukraine
The honourary consul for Ukraine in B.C., Mir Huculak, is publicizing opportunities for British Columbians to help the families of shooting victims in Kyiv, Ukraine, and those who were injured in anti-government protests. Between 75 and 100 people died in the upheaval, which led to President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing Kyiv on Friday, and a plan for new elections in May. People wishing to make tax-deductible donations, which will be used for humanitarian relief for shooting victims’ families and injured protesters, can donate online through the CUF Maidan Fund, at www.cufoundation. ca, or through Ukrainian Canadian Social Services, at https://www.canadahelps.org/dn/15000. Non-tax deductible donations can be sent to Ukrainian Canadian Congress, at 145 Evans Avenue – Suite 208, Toronto, Ontario, M8Z 5X8.
VOL. 37 NO. 01 $1.30 inc. GST
Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier
The stage racers of the Caledonia Classic Sled Dog Races take off across Stuart Lake in the first of three days of racing for the teams. The race began Friday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. and marks the beginning of this year’s Winterfest activities, more than a week of events in Fort St. James to celebrate winter. Ruth Lloyd/Caledonia Courier
Walk on ... in The Fort St. James Medical Clinic has begun to take walk-in clients on a trial basis and pre-book appointments
Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier The Fort St. James Medical Clinic is currently taking walk-ins on a trial basis. A massive step forward for the clinic, allowing walk-in patients is aimed at addressing acute illnesses, but was simply not possible for the past couple of years due to the physician shortage. For a year the community struggled under the care of one lone physician, Dr. Stent, who had to do what he could to provide some health care to the entire area. Once more physicians were recruited to the community, there was an immense backlog of chronic illness patients which were being dealt with and this then prevented those who had
acute problems such as a flu-related illness to be seen much of the time. But at the beginning of February, the clinic was finally caught up enough with the backlog to begin shifting the physician schedule to accommodate walk-ins and opening up to book appointments, which previously was done via 9 a.m. call-ins during which the clinic was booked everyday within minutes of opening. The three-month trial has been going well so far, according to Kathy Marchal, who manages the clinic. The clinic is so far able to see on average 26-30 walk-in patients a day, and normally Marchal said all the walk-in patients are able to get in by the end of the day on most days. It is a first-come,
first-serve walk-in, and clients write down their names on a list when they arrive, and they are seen in the order on the list, but the patients must be in the clinic when their name is called. With five physicians in the community now, and one nurse practitioner working out of the Nak’azdli Health Centre, the situation has improved significantly since Dr. Stent was the only physician left in Fort St. James, but there are still issues, said Marchal. Due to the population and the amount of chronic disease patients in the area, as soon as the appointment books were opened up to prebook spots, all the available spots until the end of April were filled within two weeks. Now, patients who
need follow-up appointments can not book an appointment with their own physician until May. If they use the walk-in, the patient may not get their own doctor, which is not ideal for follow-up and chronic disease care. “It’s exactly what we predicted would happen,” said Marchal about the bookings. While the system will be re-evaluated after the three-month trial period is up Marchal said so far the walk-in is working well, and she can’t see it going away, but changes may have to be made to continue to address the high number of chronic problems in the population with only five physicians. “We need six physicians,” she said. “That’s absolutely the bottom line.”
RCMP responded to a report of a student in possession of a possible handgun at Fort St. James Secondary School Monday, Feb. 24. At around 1:50 p.m., RCMP were informed by the school administration a student reported he or she had seen another student at the school in possession of a handgun. “The RCMP were immediately contacted and were on the scene within minutes,” said a statement from school administration going out to parents after the incident. Police on duty at the time were immediately sent to create a perimeter around the school, but they quickly learned the weapon involved was not a firearm. The realisticlooking pellet gun was believed to have been passed around by a small group of friends. RCMP then located the pellet gun and seized it. Once it was determined no criminal charges were warranted in the case, it was determined the school would deal with the students involved internally. School District 91 Director of Instruction Manu Madhok said the disciplinary process began immediately and will continue on in partnership with the RCMP and will be both educational and disciplinary. The replica hand gun is expected to be destroyed by police. While the school district does have policies around illegal weapons and firearms at schools, there is not a policy addressing these types of guns, as pellet guns or airsoft guns are not controlled weapons. Madhok said the school district will probably need to go back and look at possibly developing a specific policy around these types of guns, as they are becoming more common. RCMP said the modern pellet and airsoft guns are being made more and more realistic-looking, which can lead to problems and imitation weapons involved in any type of offence, such as uttering threats, carry serious criminal charges.