Your monthly update from the BC Health Coalition
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor

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