BC Lags Behind Other Provinces in Life Satisfaction

[calgarygeologist]

Emergency rooms at five Interior B.C. hospitals were closed over the long weekend due to staffing shortages.

In separate news releases, Interior Health Authority announced that 100 Mile District, Nicola Valley, Lillooet, Cariboo Memorial and South Okanagan hospitals all temporarily paused emergency department services due to "limited physician availability."

While most of them have since resumed emergency services, Nicola Valley Hospital's emergency room is scheduled to reopen on Monday morning.

According to Interior Health, there were 28 service interruptions across the region this July alone — 10 of which were at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.

In 2022, emergency rooms at 13 rural B.C. hospitals — including South Okanagan, Lillooet and Nicola Valley hospitals — were closed for approximately four months, combined.

Last year, the Nicola Valley Hospital saw more than 10 emergency room closures due to staffing shortages. Merritt residents held several rallies protesting the closures and calling for the B.C. government to better staff the hospital.

In a previous interview with CBC News, Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz said its ER has been closed 24 times in 2023 and 2024 — with costs being borne by the municipality each time. In response, he sent the province a bill for over $100,000.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...kend-1.7311086

[Locke]

But didnt all the Doctors hate Alberta and move to BC?

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Locke

But didnt all the Doctors hate Alberta and move to BC?

BC has added tons of doctors, increasing the number of practising family physicians by 17% in a year. But it's tough to get highly educated people with in-demand skills to live and work in some of those places. I mean, if you're a doctor and had the option of living in Vancouver or Victoria vs. Williams Lake or Lillooet, is it really a hard choice? Yeah, some prefer smaller towns and nature, but there are still a lot better options than living in a podunk town in the middle of nowhere.

The fact is, 24 hour emergency care in a town of 10K people isn't necessarily viable 365 days a year, particularly when there are two other 24-hour hospitals within an hour's drive (to use Williams Lake as an example).

[Winsor_Pilates]

I have never heard the term "podunk"; I like it.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

I have never heard the term "podunk"; I like it.

What? How old are you?

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Locke

What? How old are you?

Somewhere between boomer and youthful.

[Winsor_Pilates]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...reet-1.7312994

I'm hearing a random attacker with a machete is still at large DT. For those of you in Vancouver, avoid DT until further news of arrests.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...reet-1.7312994

I'm hearing a random attacker with a machete is still at large DT. For those of you in Vancouver, avoid DT until further news of arrests.

Update. They have someone in custody.

And unfortunately, the VPD is still using X, so this si the only link I could find:

https://x.com/VancouverPD/status/1831374391562899957

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...reet-1.7312994

I'm hearing a random attacker with a machete is still at large DT. For those of you in Vancouver, avoid DT until further news of arrests.

So grab your own machete and get after it!

[Winsor_Pilates]

Yeah, video footage of the arrest near Olympic Village is on X too. Another innocent life lost for nothing.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Yeah, video footage of the arrest near Olympic Village is on X too. Another innocent life lost for nothing.

The guy would have likely walked down Cambie Bridge, by the sky train station, and down the sea wall. All very busy areas this morning. Very lucky to not have another attack.

[bc-chris]

that machete attack is so messed up

[blankall]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

that machete attack is so messed up

Definitely.

1 person dead and another with a severed hand:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/unprovoked-att...hand-1.7024914

The victims were likely two random people just walking to work.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by blankall

Definitely.

1 person dead and another with a severed hand:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/unprovoked-att...hand-1.7024914

The victims were likely two random people just walking to work.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/unprovoked-att...hand-1.7024914

Another tally on the 'catch and release' system.

The chief said the man has previous convictions for assault and assault causing bodily harm and was on probation for a 2023 assault when he attacked the two men Wednesday.

The motive, Palmer said, remains unknown but investigators are considering that mental health may have been a "contributing factor."

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by blankall

Definitely.

1 person dead and another with a severed hand:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/unprovoked-att...hand-1.7024914

The victims were likely two random people just walking to work.

"The chief said the man has previous convictions for assault and assault causing bodily harm and was on probation for a 2023 assault when he attacked the two men Wednesday."

Of Course

[opendoor]

Maybe wait for the details of those prior charges before politicizing a tragic event. Unless the suggestion is to incarcerate people guilty of even minor offences for the rest of their lives.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Maybe wait for the details of those prior charges before politicizing a tragic event. Unless the suggestion is to incarcerate people guilty of even minor offences for the rest of their lives.

That quote is in the article posted and details given by the chief of police.
You can ask him what his motives are. What are yours?

[blankall]

Just saw a nasty picture of the hand. The victims both look pretty old. Wonder if he was targeting older people, or they were the ones who couldn't run away fast enough.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by blankall

The guy would have likely walked down Cambie Bridge, by the sky train station, and down the sea wall. All very busy areas this morning. Very lucky to not have another attack.

That's one route, but he also could have taken the seawall from downtown, around Science Centre to Olympic Village too. These extremely violent attacks on random people in Vancouver happen often enough to really understand better why. There was that dude that hit a few women with a pipe or stick a few years ago and then stabbing deaths as well in Granville. It's not normal to do such extreme acts on strangers.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

That quote is in the article posted and details given by the chief of police.
You can ask him what his motives are. What are yours?

The chief was just stating a fact, that the accused had prior convictions. But without knowing the details, it's impossible to determine whether him being free right now is some sort of failure of the justice system. We can't keep people locked up indefinitely on the presumption that they will commit murder in the future.

Maybe his prior offences warranted longer punishment, in which case some criticism is fair. But we don't know anything about them at this point so trying to tie it to politics is a bit premature. Assault and Assault Causing Bodily Harm can be serious offences, or they can be something like getting into a fist fight and injuring the other person.