Transportation: Vision is set for mayors’ regional plan. 3
Arts: Glass Menagerie at theatre in country. 12
Development: Renewed interest in Kwantlen land. 33 Fr i d ay, J a n u a r y 2 3, 2 015 · mapleridgenews.com · est. 1978 · (office) 604-467-1122 · (del iver y ) 60 4- 4 66 - 63 97
Fentanyl taking a deadly toll By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
The pain-killing drug fentanyl is continuing to take a deadly toll as people consume what they think is heroin or oxycodone. On Jan. 13, a Maple Ridge mother of two died from using heroin laced with fentanyl. And the death of a man in Vancouver has police and Vancouver Coastal Health warning drug users of the potential consequences and dangers of ingesting street drugs and to watch for “fake drugs.” “No matter what the appearance of the drug being sold or what you are told it is, there is never any guarantee you are buying what you think you are buying,” said Dr. John Carsley, medical health officer at VCH. “In fact, very often the drug you purchase is not what you think it is.” See Fentanyl, 5
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B.C. Scotties Shannon Aleksic, playing third on Kelly Scott’s team from Kelowna, calls off her teammates during the second day of action of the provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Golden Ears Winter Club on Thursday. Aleksic, who curls out of Maple Ridge, was a finalist in last year’s provincial tournament. Results, 25.
Foreign doctors settling here GP for Me attracts seven, two from U.K. By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
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The local medical community’s efforts to recruit new doctors to Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows have attracted seven practitioners in the past year. “That is fantastic,” said Dr. Ursula Luitingh, lead physician of the Ridge Meadows Division of Family Practice. TRY OUR
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“Our goal in A GP For Me was only two doctors, so getting seven is amazing.” That program is an initiative of B.C. doctors and the Ministry of Health, with a goal to have everyone in B.C. who wants a family physician to have access to one. Research shows that continuous doctor-patient relationships lead to the best health outcomes. A GP For Me was led locally by the Division of Family Practice. Its research found there are 17,000 people in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows who do not
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have a family physician. They also found that more than one-third of the community’s doctors will be retiring over the next 10 years, and in that same time frame the area’s population will grow by 19 per cent. The Division of Family Practice, an organization that represents 87 family physicians in the community, has been recruiting doctors, often competing with other communities in the region for their services. “We’ve been very successful at attracting GPs here,” said Treena
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Innes, division director. Five have been recruited since August, three settling in Pitt Meadows and two in Maple Ridge. Two more doctors from the U.K. have agreed to move to Pitt Meadows, but have not yet arrived. Each doctor will have a roster of patients ranging from 1,500 to 2,000, so people wanting to have their own family doctor should soon find they have some choices. See Doctors, 5
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Dr. Ursa Luitingh said the goal of the program was only to attract two doctors.
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