MONDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2016
TO THE HAGGIS
ROBBIE BURNS NIGHT 2016
See LOCAL NEWS page 3
ADAPTIVE SNOW SPORTS
LEARN TO SKI
An introduction to skiing for those with disabilities. See LOCAL NEWS page 3
THE BULLETIN PROUDLY SERVING KIMBERLEY AND AREA SINCE 1932 | Vol. 84, Issue 21 | www.dailybulletin.ca
Buying Selling Buying or Selling Call First Call Marilyn First
250-427-8700 250-427-8700 250-427-8700 Like Us TownsmanBulletin Follow Us
@kbulletin
1
$ 10 INCLUDES G.S.T.
Region receiving 29 nurses: IHA
16 of those nursing positions to East Kootenay Regional TRE VOR CR AWLEY
CAROLYN GRANT PHOTO
Mayor Don McCormick congratulates Kimberley residents Nick Valeriote and Diane Klekowski on completing 21 hours of Hospice volunteer Training and 12 hours of Bereavement Volunteer Training.
Hospice at work in Kimberley C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
While it is not very high profile, the Cranbrook Kimberley Hospice Society has been at work in both communities. In December of 2015, the Society had 19 Cranbrook clients and 15 Kimberley clients. Throughout the year, volunteers gave 4,000 hours of service to families and individuals dealing an imminent death. There are 14 volunteers and three board members who are Kimberley residents. The Hospice Society is primarily funded by the Harley Davidson Raffle every fall and grants and donations. Funding is tight. There is only one paid position, a coordinator, who in 2015 was paid less than $10 per hour. In Kimberley, Hospice works at The Pines, Garden View and homes in the community.
Demand for services continues to grow, and in addition, Hospice provides follow up support for the bereaved. Twelve Kimberley students are taking park in the Rainbow program at Lindsay Park School this year. This program, a 13week peer group, is designed for children who have experience a traumatic change, such as the death of a parent or grandparent, even a pet. It is running for the first time in Kimberley this year and Hospice hopes to expand it into McKim School. Hospice has produced a booklet, “End of Life’s Journey” to assist families after a death. The Society is part of a group to develop a plan for trialling up to five Palliative Care Day Hospice sites within IHA. They have been invited to make a presentation to IHA and to be part of an End of Life IHA strategic planning working Group. They are developing a Strategic Plan for
End of Life to meet the mandate from the Provincial Government to increase Hospice spaces by 2020. Hospice also is represented in the IHA Hospice Partnerships Working Group to develop collaboration between IHA and all independent hospices. Finally Hospice have been asked to participate in NCARE (Navigating, Connecting, Accessing, Resourcing, Engaging). NCARE is a UBC-0 research project designed to implement and evaluate the use of volunteer/health care provider navigation partnerships to improve the care and quality of life for older adults living at home with advanced chronic illness. Bob Gilchrist of the Hospice Society provided all this information to Council last week, while presenting two Kimberley residents, Nick Valeriote and Diane Klekowski, with certificates of training completion. At the time, Council inquired
about a palliative room, which Kimberley used to have. “We had hospice in Kimberley and then we lost it. There was a palliative room at The Pines, but it was taken over by Interior Health and now it’s gone,” Gilchrist said. Coun. Albert Hoglund suggested the City write a letter to East Kootenay MLA Bill Bennett and the Health Minister. “We were told we would have a palliative care unit,” he said. “There is a huge discrepancy in hospice funding throughout Interior Health,” Gilchrist said. Mayor Don McCormick had kind words for the work of the Cranbrook Kimberley Hospice Society. “It’s an organization that hasn’t had a lot of visibility but pound for pound, dollar for dollar, I don’t know that there is another organization that gets as much done.”
With 300 nursing positions coming to the Interior Health Authority, it looks like 16 will be coming to Cranbrook and 29 to the East Kootenay region, according to an IHA spokesperson. “It is worth noting that these are the numbers as of today and they may change,” said Karl Hardt, a communications officer with IHA, in an email to the Daily Townsman. “We are reviewing the needs and vacancies regularly as we go through this process. Postings across In-
terior Health include a variety of nursing positions – in our facilities, either for general or specialty areas, or in the community.” The jobs are part of a province-wide effort to create an additional 1,600 nursing positions by March 2016. “Nurses are important, highly-skilled members of health care teams throughout British Columbia, and today’s announcement acknowledges their integral role in the health system,” said Health Minister Terry Lake, in a government press release. “Over the past year, we have been working closely with nurses to make health care improvements that benefit both patients and staff. See NURSES, page 3
Water monitoring program to go out to tender C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
At their regular meeting last week, Kimberley City Council voted that council direct staff to direct the Watershed Monitoring Program to a competitive bid process for a five year term. However, there was some discussion as to whether a competitive bid process was the way to go. “There are concerns from the watershed people about this,” said Coun. Albert Hoglund, who sits on the watershed committee. “No one is saying it shouldn’t go out for bids, but if new people come in, there will be a loss of experience and knowl-
edge from Aqua Tex (the current provider of water monitoring).” “That’s fair comment,” said Mayor Don McCormick. “But during a competitive bid process, that body of knowledge gives the incumbents an advantage.” “I don’t agree with the comments from the Watershed Committee,” said Coun. Darryl Oakley. “There are extremely well qualified people out there. I’m glad this is going out to tender. I hear there is keen interest out there. We are just looking to get the best bang for the buck for the tax payer.” Hoglund reiterated that no one said it shouldn’t go out for bid.