VCH is encouraging people to fight the flu by getting immunized. With quotes from Dr. Paul Martiquet, medical health officer at VCH.

“The government of British Columbia is not keeping pace with the rest of Canada. They have avoided putting patient safety first in this province and, in doing so, patient safety is compromised. We hope it won’t take a tragedy to get their attention.”

A UBC team manufactures simulated specimens to send to labs across Canada so technologists can use them to practice their skills and prevent errors in lab tests handling and analysis. With quotes from Dr. Diane Roscoe, head of microbiology and infection control at VGH.

“The families who this year will discover the agony of psychotic illnesses need to know that genuine help is available.” With mention of VCH emphasizing the need for collaborating with families.

The Conservative government criticized supervised injection sites in this week’s Throne Speech. With quotes from Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

“We were very fortunate to be able to find an excellent family doctor at that time but with the population expected to increase at a very fast rate maybe the developers or the council should come up with the funding for some new doctors and medical facilities for our ever expanding population.”

“Perhaps it’s time to do some lateral thinking. What if we could attract these people off the streets into clinics where doctors and nurses could treat them with diacetylmorphine, a safe and sterile pharmaceutical, instead of unsafe black-market heroin?” Written by Dr. Martin Schechter, director of VCH’s National HIV Clinical Trials.

Health Minister Terry Lake’s response to the declared mental health crisis was there is “a problem, but no crisis.”

A bill requiring “clear criteria” for safe injection sites to open is going to the House of Commons for debate on Friday

B.C.’s First Nations has centralized all of its health services under one authority.