Your monthly update from the BC Health Coalition

State of BC Health r1 BC Health

Your January 2024 monthly update from the
BC Health Coalition

UPDATE

Primary care out for corporate bid

In December, the Ministry of Health issued a “request for proposals” for 1.5 million virtual doctor or nurse practitioner visits in British Columbia, according to a report by CTV News in December. This large and extensive nature of this contract privileges large corporations like Telus Health, with a very short one-month period – much of it over the holidays – for providers to apply. Rather than investing in community-based primary health care capacity, the contract risks further corporatization of primary care. READ MORE.


ACTION

Community voice for long-term care funding reform cannot be ignored in favour of for-profit players

Over 1,600 seniors, their loved ones, workers, and other British Columbians mailed postcards... to Minister of Health Adrian Dix supporting a new funding model in December.

There is still a need to keep up the pressure, especially to ensure the right voices are engaged and the new model is not designed exclusively by the private for-profit sector. Having learned that the Ministry of Health intends to contract a private sector consultant to design a new provincial funding model for long-term care, we reiterate our demand that the new model must be co-developed with key stakeholders in the sector including residents and family councils, workers and their unions, and seniors organizations. READ MORE.


WATCH & LEARN

Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Public Health Analysis and Response

On December 19, 2023, the BC Health Coalition Steering Committee adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Israel and Palestine and the flow of humanitarian and medical aid to those who need it. Public health care advocates and Canadian health care workers have denounced attacks on hospitals and health care workers in Gaza, while the World Health Organization has warned that the war is a 'recipe for epidemics'. To learn more about the public health analysis on the crisis in Gaza, register for this panel on January 29 from 2:30-4pm PST, organized by the University of Michigan School of Public Health and partners.


WELCOME TO THE 2024 STEERING COMMITTEE!

Thank you to these organizations and their representatives who were elected at the AGM on December 13 to lead the BC Health Coalition in 2024!

Community Caucus Co-chairs: Colleen Fuller & Stacy Ashton
BC Federation of Students - Phoebe Lo Patigdas
Council of Canadians - Barbara Mitchell-Pollock & David Ravensbergen
Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of BC - Leslie Gaudette & Agnes Jackman
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC - Lisa Akinyi May & Bill Kilgannon
BC Crisis Line Network - Stacy Ashton
REACH Community Health Centre - Colleen Fuller
Umbrella Multicultural Health Co-op - Mei-ling Wiedmeyer

Labour Caucus Co-chair: Tuesday Andrich
BC General Employees Union - Scott De Long & MJ Colquhoun
Health Sciences Association - Nicole Seguin
UFCW 1518 - Linda Wilson & Eleanor Smith
CUPE BC - Tuesday Andrich & Andrew Ledger
BC Federation of Labour - Sheila Moir
Hospital Employees Union - Lisa Freeman


Public Health News, Updates & Resources

Remembering Nell Toussaint’s struggle for medicare for all, regardless of immigration status Denying health care based on immigration status violates the principle of universality that is foundational to Canada's health care laws.

Every voice counts: Long-term care resident and visitor survey results | BC Seniors Advocate The second province-wide survey of 10,000 residents and almost 8,000 family members shows there has been little improvement in areas such as frequency of bathing, help at mealtimes, meaningful activities, engagement with staff and other residents and the overall ratings of quality remain relatively unchanged.

Telus and the politics of privatized health care An Island Health contract awarded to Telus Health to provide eating disorder care reveals BC's political party stances on privatization.

Less than 1 in 3 residents say B.C. is handling health care well: survey A new survey from Angus-Reid found that 27% of British Columbians said that the government has done a good or very good job in handling health care, down from 63% in 2020.

Patients in B.C. hospitals are having more complex medical needs, study finds The study found that patients coming to the emergency room were 2.7 times more likely to be hospitalized and 2.1 times more likely to have multiple medical issues in 2017, compared to 2002.

I got a prescription for Ozempic, even though I shouldn’t have qualified. This investigative report exposes how the rise of for-profit telehealth companies has led to bad medicine.

Ontario's hospital labour force is at a breaking point The staggering findings just released by a hospital union show that 62% of health care workers are dealing with exhaustion and high stress levels stemming from overwork.

Donate now

Donations by cheque can be made out to BC Health Coalition and mailed to BC Health Coalition 302-3102 Main Street Vancouver BC V5T 3G7. Or you can give monthly by cheque.

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British Columbia Health Coalition
3102 Main St, 302, Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories, BC V5T 3G7, Canada
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