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The BCHC is happy to welcome Zuzana Modrovic as our Community Health Development Worker. A second year law student at the University of Victoria, Zuzana has an interest in advocacy and public health law. She will be coordinating our community outreach efforts this summer. Have an event we should know about?
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| Family and resident councils need immediate attention, Health Coalition tells BC government | |
 The BC Health Coalition is calling on the provincial government to immediately implement all of the provincial Ombudsperson's recommendations on resident and family councils.
The Ombudsperson's December 2009 report on seniors' care in British Columbia found that resident and family councils are crucial mechanisms for ensuring the well being of residents in residential care facilities. The report also found that the Ministry of Health Services and Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport have not taken necessary steps to ensure that resident and family councils are adequately supported.
June 30th marks the deadline for one of the recommendations that was not accepted, which recommends that the government establish an ongoing position to promote and help develop resident and family councils and to report publicly on those activities every year.
"The recommendations around family and resident councils - and all of the report's recommendations - are simple, inexpensive and positive steps to ensure a better quality of life for people living in these facilities," says Alice Edge, BC Health Coalition Co-Chair. "We are telling our government to implement the Ombudsperson's recommendations immediately, and calling on all British Columbians to join us in doing the same."
To-date the provincial government has only agreed to implement four of the report's ten recommendations. While this is a positive step, the BCHC is concerned the government will be unable to meet the resident and family needs identified in the report if it fails to fully implement all the recommendations in all three areas.
The Ombudsperson's report is the first part of an ongoing systemic investigation in response to a growing number of complaints and increasing concern about seniors' care in BC.
Take Action! Click here to send a letter to Ministers Falcon and Chong and demand they implement the Ombudsperson's recommendations on resident and family councils.
Get informed! Click here to download the Ombudsperson's report on seniors' care in BC.
Join Us! Click here to learn about the BC Health Coalition's Home and Community Care Campaign.
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| BCHC sounds alarm on health authority appointment | |
The BC Health Coalition is questioning the provincial government's commitment to defend public health care in the courts after its recent appointment of Kip Woodward as chair of Vancouver Coastal HealthÑthe province's second largest health authority.Mr. Woodward - a known advocate of privatized, for-profit health care - is a former Board member of the for-profit Cambie Surgery Centre and his family investment firm, Woodcorp Investments Ltd., is an investor in the controversial private clinic run by Dr. Brian Day. Cambie Surgery is at the centre of the pivotal BC Supreme Court case launched by Day and a consortium of private for-profit clinics against the BC Medical Services Commission and the provincial government. The clinics aim to have key provisions of provincial health legislation declared unconstitutional so that they can open up BC to US-style health insurance and sell necessary health services to patients who can afford to pay a premium to jump the queue. "Health Minister Falcon has a responsibility to protect patients from pushers of privatized, for-profit health care and their legal attack on Medicare," says BCHC Co-chair Rachel Tutte. "Now, he has appointed some of the same players who stand to benefit from this attack to key positions in our public health care system." Take Action! Click here to send an e-mail to Minister Falcon and demand that he take a strong stand in defending provincial health legislation from this legal challenge to ensure that we have a health care system that works for everyone. | |
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| Action alert! Tell your Municipal Councillors to support the public health care resolution at this year's Union of BC Municipalities meeting! | |
Municipal governments from around the province will gather from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 at the UBCM Annual General Meeting in order to address common issues and share concerns with the provincial government.
Last year the cities of Victoria and New Westminster brought forward a resolution calling on the province to stop the expansion of for-profit surgical and MRI/CT clinics. The resolution is on the agenda again this year.
Municipal governments can play an important role in protecting public health services in their communities. Support for this resolution is just one of the ways that municipal officials can take a stand to protect and improve our public health care system and promote the development of public, not-for-profit health care facilities.
Take Action! Click here to e-mail your Municipal Council and ask that it support the pro-public healthcare resolution. If this resolution passes, it will send an important signal to the provincial government and the private, for-profit clinic owners who are setting up shop in B.C.
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| Get Covered! | |
 Looking for a creative way to show your support for public health care in your community? Join Medicare supporters across BC in our photo rally! We've got red umbrellas and message cards that you can use at parades, festivals, your home, farmers markets, the ballpark - wherever you might be this summer. We'll send you the props, you send us the pictures you've taken and we'll add them to our visual map of supporters for positive, public solutions to strengthen Medicare. Volunteer opportunities are available right now for those living in the Lower Mainland. If you live outside the Lower Mainland our staff can put you in contact with health care defenders in your own community. Join the Rally! Click here for info on how to get everything you'll need. |
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| BC Health Coalition • 411 Dunsmuir Street Vancouver, BC V6B 1X4 P: 604-681-7945 • F: 604-681-7947 • Email: info@bchealthcoalition.ca |
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