The Peel: Intact wilderness is a hedge against our ignorance
In 2011, I travelled with my family down Yukon’s Hart River. It’s one of seven pure rivers in the Peel River watershed, a 68,000-square-kilometre wilderness that’s been at the centre of a legal dispute for many years and a land-use planning debate for more than a decade. For two weeks, we fished from the river’s vibrant green...
COLUMN: Good-bye and Good Riddance to Rashes
There’s one thing that can drive a person crazy: an itchy rash. It’s one of the most common problems I treat and can affect anyone at any age. I’ve seen one-week-old babies to 95-year-old people for these rashes. There are many reasons people get rashes, but, the bottom line is that the liver, kidneys and/or lungs are...
New province-wide campaign reveals dangerous side of nursing
Virna Bation, a nurse who’s worked in elder care for 17 years, never expected that her attempt to help a patient would turn violent. A 75-year-old resident suddenly became agitated while Bation was providing care and bit Bation’s thumb so badly that it sent her to the emergency department and kept her off work for three months....
Carfentanil presence confirmed in Interior Health
On the heels of information released by Nelson Police Department Wednesday, Interior Health officials are confirming the deadly drug carfentanil is now present in the region. IH made the announcement Thursday following a positive carfentanil drug test in the Kootenay region reported by Health Canada and a positive carfentanil...
EDITORIAL: My insidious wardrobe
What next? It seems that everything we do is an environmental problem. Triclosan in "anti-bacterial" soaps and toothpastes and so on just contributed to developing antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and was bad for people who used the products, too. Microbeads in toothpaste and various cosmetics built up astonishing...
Dealing with annoying aches and pains
Often we experience aches and pains that don’t send us to the doctor or keep us from working, but may take us to the pharmacy for medication or drain our energy. Chronic achiness anywhere requires the body to dedicate time, nutrients and energy to repair whatever is creating the soreness. Readily accessible supplements or...
Better kids with the natural world? Come to the discussion.
Parents and prospective parents who are looking for ideas about how to raise a healthier (in every way) young person, here's a source: show up at the Gold Rush Bookstore -- 2063 Washington Street in Rossland -- on March 9, at 7:00 pm and particpate in a discussion until 8:30 pm....
​ICBC and BC Transplant expand organ donation program across the province
Starting Monday, every British Columbian visiting an ICBC driver licensing location will be asked to register their decision about organ donation. To increase the number of people with a registered decision, ICBC and BC Transplant are expanding a provincial partnership to all ICBC driver licensing locations across the...
Another good reason to avoid sugar
We all know, now (don't we?) that sugar is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic, and that sugar is more to blame than fat in heart disease. We know that sugar causes cavities in our teeth, and that excessive sugar consumption is linked with diabetes. But here's another reason to avoid sugar: medical research has...
More potentially deadly chemicals being found in street-level drugs in BC
BC RCMP wishes to advise that recent Health Canada tests have confirmed the presence of the compound W-18 and a fentanyl analog recently in two communities, and that drug users should be aware these chemicals may be present anywhere. In mid-December, 2016, Surrey RCMP seized pebble heroin, among other drugs, in relation to ...
