People in the North are one step closer to enhanced acute care and a dedicated cardiac unit with the approval of the business plan for a new patient-care tower at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia (UHNBC).
In response to the provincial health officer’s decision to end the COVID-19 public-health emergency, which ends the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in health-care settings, the Province is making it mandatory for health-care workers to disclose their immunization status as a way to help keep people safe.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer (PHO), has issued the following statement:
“As British Columbia’s provincial health officer, I am issuing an order to end the public-health emergency for COVID-19 and rescinding all related orders.
“Since March 2020, we have been in a provincial public-health emergency to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 is not gone, we now have high levels of protection in the health-care system and in communities throughout BC.
People experiencing a mental-health or substance-use crisis in Prince George will soon have access to a new community-led Peer Assisted Care Team (PACT) to help them stabilize and find the support they need.
Northern Health is proactively moving patients from Stuart Lake Hospital in Fort St. James, as part of advance planning related to the Pitka Creek wildfire activity in the area.
Stuart Lake Hospital remains open. The hospital/emergency department remains open for urgent care needs and will continue to run until the status of evacuation alerts or orders significantly changes. Lab and medical imaging services will also continue.
The B.C. health system was impacted by the global CrowdStrike disruption on July 18. We are pleased to share as of July 20, that due to the tremendous efforts of the Northern Health teams and our partners involved in this response, the majority of systems and services have now returned to normal operations and any major risks have been mitigated. Northern Health switchboards are fully operational for individuals who need to connect with this service.
While we are still working through the disruption we’re pleased to share there was very minimal patient impact today and all services remained available. We are grateful to our teams who worked through the night and throughout the day today to minimize patient and provider impact and to ensure health care services were available. For more information, see the BC Government statement.
Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, has released the following statement in response to the global system disruption that is affecting many health-authority-owned facilities:
“Over the night of Thursday, July 18, 2024, BC was made aware of a global system disruption that is affecting many health-authority-owned facilities, including hospitals. Emergency services, including 911 and ambulances, are not impacted by this disruption and are operating as usual.
