Latest news with #FraserHealth
The Province
18 hours ago
- Health
- The Province
Life-saving or too disruptive? Overdose prevention site divides New West ahead of vote
While some support the site's harm-reduction services, others argue it has contributed to rising levels of street disorder, theft and safety concerns in the area. The Health Contact Centre on Begbie Street in New Westminster is an overdose prevention site operated by Purpose Society on behalf of Fraser Health. It has been operating on a temporary permit since 2021. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG A tense vote is expected at New Westminster City Council on Monday, as councillors consider whether to renew a temporary permit for an overdose prevention site in the city's downtown core. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors The proposed 18-month renewal has sparked debate among residents and business owners. While some support the site's harm-reduction services, others argue it has contributed to rising levels of street disorder, theft and safety concerns in the area. The Starship Health Contact Centre at 40 Begbie St., operated by the Purpose Society in collaboration with Fraser Health, opened in April 2021 after council approved the original permit in March that year. The centre offers services including witnessed drug consumption, harm-reduction supplies, referrals to health and addiction treatment programs, and drug testing. Nelson Santos, who owns Lisa's Bridal just around the corner, says shoplifting at the boutique has noticeably increased since the site opened. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'There was always a little bit of street disorder with the Union Gospel Mission down the street, but it was managed,' Santos told Postmedia on Friday. 'Since the safe injection site opened, there's definitely been an escalation.' 'Things like cellphones have been swiped off the top of store counters, and our staff report having uncomfortable encounters with (drug users) while commuting to and from work,' Santos said. Alongside an increase in shoplifting, Santos said her employees routinely clear drug paraphernalia, including needles, from the front of their storefront before opening. 'I see the value in the site,' the business owner said. 'But clustering these sorts of services together in a two-block radius has made it hard for local businesses. We often have people camped out in front of the store. It's starting to feel like this area is the next Downtown Eastside.' Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Other residents and business owners have written to the city expressing concerns about safety, cleanliness and the impact on foot traffic in the area. But not everyone agrees that the site is to blame. 'We haven't had a lot of negative effects from it,' said Katey Wright, co-owner of Origins Chocolate Bar, which is a 400-metre walk from the overdose prevention site. 'What we have seen is people using inhalants occasionally outside our store, and once or twice someone has camped overnight in an alcove near our front doors.' Wright told Postmedia on Friday that she hopes to see the site's permit renewed, saying that 'humans in the grips of homelessness and addiction are way more important than the success of local businesses.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I think there's a way that we can all help look after each other,' the business owner added. Under the current temporary permit, the site operates daily from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., staffed by a coordinator and four workers. A municipal 'Good Neighbour Agreement' requires on-site security and measures to minimize disruptions, including litter and criminal activity, to nearby residents and businesses. Lynda Fletcher-Gordon, head of the non-profit that runs the centre, says Fraser Health data shows that each month, an average of three overdoses are reversed inside the facility, and another five are reversed outside. 'We understand the discomfort and the worry about what it does to the neighbourhood. However, the answer is not to move them around, pushing them from place to place,' she wrote in a letter to New Westminster city council. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Council reviewed the permit renewal last month, with the mayor and most councillors backing amendments to allow the site to continue operating. Two councillors opposed the move. 'The site has saved hundreds of lives and referred thousands of people to treatment they need, including detox and other health care services,' said Mayor Patrick Johnstone. Johnstone voiced his support for the overdose prevention site Friday, saying that homelessness downtown existed before the centre opened. 'People who consume drugs want to be near the centre because they know there is help if they overdose,' he explained. 'This has created some external concerns and challenges for the community, but it's a life-saving service.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The mayor said the city is actively working with Fraser Health to add an inhalation site to the Health Centre, noting that Monday's permit renewal is an interim step while a permanent location is secured. He cautioned against misconceptions about drug use near the centre, saying, 'If you don't want to see people smoking drugs out in public, then an indoor health contact centre is the place for them. It's about helping people move past their addiction when they are ready.' Noting that the Health Contact Centre is the only overdose prevention site between Maple Ridge and Vancouver, Johnstone is advocating for broader provincial investments to expand addiction treatment, housing, and social supports across the Metro Vancouver region. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Simply put, the cure for homelessness is homes, and the cure for untreated mental health and addictions is health care. We cannot turn away any services during crises like these,' he said. The debate over where to locate overdose prevention sites has flared up in other Metro Vancouver cities. In Richmond, following widespread community backlash, Vancouver Coastal Health announced last February that it would not open a supervised consumption site in the city. sgrochowski@ Read More
CTV News
4 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Spread of measles in northern B.C. brings province's tally to 30 cases
There are now 18 confirmed or assumed cases of measles in B.C.'s north, bringing the provincial tally to 30 infections. The Northern Health Authority first sounded the alarm about the highly infectious disease spreading in Wonowon, a small community located approximately 89 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John, over the weekend. Officials have since revealed there are seven measles cases in the Northern Health region confirmed through laboratory testing, and another 11 that are assumed based on symptoms and known exposure. The health authority said the initial case is believed to have been 'travel-acquired,' and that residents of Wonowon and neighbouring communities may have been exposed to the disease in various settings going back to late May. There was also an exposure risk in the waiting area of Fort St. John Hospital's emergency department in the early morning hours of June 2. Vancouver Coastal Health has reported eight cases so far this year, and Fraser Health has confirmed four. New exposure warning While there have been no confirmed cases in the Interior Health region, officials issued an exposure warning Tuesday about a 'visitor to B.C.' who was recently in the community of Sparwood while infectious. Officials said anyone who was in the McDonald's restaurant on Middletown Place on June 8, from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., could have been exposed to the disease. 'Interior Health is following up directly with individuals who are known to have been exposed to complete contact tracing,' the health authority said, in a public service announcement. 'The risk to the broader public is considered low.' According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, it can take up to three weeks post-exposure for a patient to show measles symptoms. Those can include fever, dry cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed days later by a rash that begins at the hairline and spreads rapidly down the body. Officials have asked that anyone suspected to be suffering from measles inform their health-care provider before heading into a clinic, so precautions can be taken to prevent further spread. Worst year since 1998 The spread of the disease has been much worse in other jurisdictions, particularly Ontario and Alberta, which have already recorded nearly 3,000 cases combined. Less than halfway through the year, Canada has experienced more measles cases nationwide than it has since measles was declared eliminated in 1998 – an issue health officials have blamed on declining vaccination rates. In B.C., the vaccination rate among seven-year-olds was 72.4 per cent in 2023, the latest year for which data is available. That's down from a rate of 90.9 per cent a decade earlier, before the anti-vaccine movement grew in popularity, including on social media. With files from CTV News Vancouver's Ian Holliday
CTV News
13-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
40 artificial intelligence programs underway at Fraser Health, but executives are mum
In this still from a YouTube video, Sheazin Premji, bottom right, the executive director of Fraser Health's Centre for Advanced Analytics, Data Science and Innovation (CAADSI), speaks on a panel hosted by Simon Fraser University's Digital Innovation and Leadership program. Fraser Health is aggressively pursuing artificial intelligence programs with at least 40 initiatives underway, but the health authority refuses to make any officials available to discuss whether the investments represent good value for taxpayer money or are essentially pet projects following a trend. CTV News has obtained documents Fraser Health has presented to outside stakeholders outlining their plans to harness technology with the goal of improving efficiency and services in B.C.'s most populous health authority. Despite numerous requests over two months, communications staff claimed no one was available to discuss them at any time, even weeks in advance. The health authority has publicly announced the rollout of a handful of AI-powered strategies, including predicting patient discharge dates and a system to pre-determine staffing requirements. The latter is particularly eyebrow-raising as a priority, considering the staffing needs are already well-known and numerous health officials have acknowledged they simply do not have enough personnel for the volume of patients in our rapidly growing province. In a presentation on Fraser Health's 'Digital Twin' program at Digital Health Canada last year, senior officials outlined a system with theoretical scenarios and virtual patients that recreates the health authority digitally in order to 'test and understand the impact on bottlenecks and inform decision-making before deploy(ing) in (the) real world.' This initiative and its use to the public health-care system, if any, has not been discussed with patients or taxpayers. How deep is Fraser Health in the AI space? In another presentation at Digital Health Canada, Sheazin Premji, the executive director of Fraser Health's Centre for Advanced Analytics, Data Science and Innovation (CAADSI) included a slide stating the health authority has '40+ AI solutions across three streams, in varying stages of development and deployment.' Fraser Health AI Fraser Health has more than 40 AI programs, according to this slide from a presentation by one of its leading technology officers. The same slide says Fraser Health has in-house, co-created and licensed software. Another slide lays out a future envisioning medical drones, facial recognition technology, 3D bioprinting, robot companions and portable diagnostic devices. Hospital and ICU mortality, ethnicity prediction, pediatric respiratory triaging, chatbots and patient information summarizers are current AI projects in progress, according to the presentation, with various companies providing services in addition to the in-house systems. Are these programs worth millions of tax dollars? Several health authorities in the province are adopting AI technology, and family doctors are also embracing time-saving scribes to summarize appointments and cut down on time spent doing paperwork. Fraser Health insists it's in full compliance with Canada's privacy laws and points to its 'mandatory Privacy Impact Assessments, Security Threat and Risk Assessments, AI Risk Assessments for AI solutions, and our corporate policy on Responsible use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace.' However, neither its website nor a vague written statement sent to CTV News make any mention of how the programs are evaluated for success or value for precious tax dollars. 'Is that the place where it's needed most?' asked Kim McGrail, a professor at UBC's School of Population and Public Health and Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, and scientific director of Population Data BC and Health Data Research Network Canada. She said while there have been detailed studies and analysis of programs in other provinces, we need to see more in B.C. She was unsurprised to learn CTV News had been unsuccessful in discussing artificial intelligence initiatives with Fraser Health. 'I think what you're pointing out is sort of a general lack of transparency in our health system,' said McGrail. 'There's a lot of things we don't know or understand, either about decision-making or about inputs or about outcomes, and in health care, we could know more and we could report more publicly than we do now, so AI is perhaps another example of that.' In a discussion with Simon Fraser University's Digital Innovation and Leadership program posted to YouTube, Premji told the moderators that 'we do need to look at that value, of the AI, and I think we need to do a better job on showing the (return on investment).' This is the third part in a CTV Vancouver series taking a deep dive into the use of artificial intelligence in health care. You can read part one here: Eye contact and earlier diagnosis: How AI is transforming front-line health care in B.C. And part two here: B.C.'s privacy watchdog weighs in on health AI boom – as doctors warn it's not a substitute
CTV News
13-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
‘Saying goodbye a second time': Kids from burnt Hazel Trembath school displaced after daycare closes
A sign for the Hazelwood Early Learning Centre is seen on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (CTV News) A fire at Hazel Trembath Elementary School in Port Coquitlam in October 2023 displaced dozens of students from their usual classrooms. Now, many of those same kids are being told to move again. Children who attended the Hazelwood Early Learning Centre daycare program at the school moved to a temporary location at TriCity Church, but that lease is up at the end of June. Parents were hoping for a new location in the James Park Elementary School Annex, but Fraser Health did not approve the application because there is only one toilet in the space. Liz Da Cunha's five-year-old daughter attended the daycare at Hazel Trembath. '(We're) saying goodbye a second time,' Da Cunha said. 'We were playing and she's saying, 'We are moving,' and I have to explain to her there's no new place to go to.' Da Cunha works as a full-time registered nurse at B.C. Children's Hospital. 'I rely on child care to be able to sleep and go to work so that I can take care of sick babies,' she said. Fraser Health told CTV News in a statement that 'licensing reviews include an assessment of various factors, such as space feasibility and washroom ratios, to ensure all health and safety requirements are met.' The health authority said its licensing team 'has been in contact with the applicant and is awaiting further information from them.' The closure of Hazelwood's daycare would leave 16 children displaced. Caitlin McNeil is currently the manager of daycare. She says despite the temporary location, waitlists have been full. 'In this community, it is needed,' she said. 'Our waitlist was growing even after the fire. Even with us telling people we are in a temporary location, they are still coming. The need is here.' The parents say they have been in touch with the city as well as local MLAs to push for another location. 'Quality child care is hard to come by and often comes with waitlists,' said Kayla Doucette, another Hazelwood parent. 'A lot of the calls I am making, they have no spots available right now. They might in September. They might six months from now.' Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West told CTV News he has been in contact with both Fraser Health and the school district to find an alternative solution. He is pushing for the province to step up on rebuilding Hazel Trembath. 'There's still no school,' said Da Cunha. 'They haven't started building a school. There's kids all over the place and now nowhere for these preschool kids to go.'
CTV News
10-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
B.C. doctor suing health authority
Vancouver Watch An ER doctor has filed a lawsuit, alleging unsafe working conditions, bullying and harassment in Fraser health hospitals.
