The BC Rural Health Network Member of the Month for July 2023
is
The East Shore Kootenay Lake Community Health Society
The East Shore Kootenay Lake Community Health Society was established over 25 years ago to be a ‘voice’ for the residents who live along highway 3A from Wynndel to Riondel. There are seven unique small communities within this largely rural area. The population of around 2,500 swells to nearly double as tourists and seasonal residents come to share and rejuvenate in the natural beauty of the Kootenay Lake. The Board of the East Shore Kootenay Lake Community Health Society(ESKLCHS) are a group of dedicated volunteers, promoting the health needs of residents living in the East Shore communities. Our overarching mandate is to intermittently identify the changing health needs of our community, promote these needs by active engagement with government bodies, advocating for and facilitating fundraising to meet those needs, and to work in collaboration with other community groups with similar goals. What makes our Society unique is that it owns the land on which the East Shore Community Health Centre (Crawford Bay Clinic) is situated on while Interior Health owns the building and operates and manages the clinic. Our Board actively engages with Interior Health on a regular basis. Our clinic liaison board member meets with clinic staff regularly to discuss any arising issues and to provide support as appropriate which may be assisting in the purchase of small items/equipment. Our Red Carpet Committee, mandated with recruitment assistance and clinic staff recognition, is called upon regularly by the Kootenay Boundary Division of Family Practice to meet and host potential physician candidates and/or their spouses by introducing them to the natural beauty of our community and to answer any questions they may have.  Over the years many health related services have been initiated and supported by the East Shore Kootenay Lake Community Health Society. The Better at Home program was created here on the East Shore with grant funding from United Way provided through Valley Community Services in Creston. We were approached to assess the potential need for such a program in our community. The ESKLCHS formed a Better at Home Advisory Committee that instituted the program with supplementary grant funding from RDCK. The Advisory Committee supported it for approximately 4 years, until it became fully funded and an integral part of Valley Community Services.  Another program, initiated and created in 2015 by the Board, that we continue to sponsor and are extremely proud of, is The Focus on Health Program (FOH). Focus on Health arose from our Society’s commitment to nurturing upcoming health professionals and commenced to establish a mutually beneficial working relationship with the Selkirk College/University of Victoria College of Nursing and Interior Health. Through this collaborative relationship we support their students in attaining their educational goals, and at the same time it enhances our ESKLCHS’s research and health-related activities. Through the Focus on Health Program monthly workshops from September through May are offered to the community to promote the health and well-being of East Shore residents. Community members are invited to attend a planning session at the beginning of each year to suggest topics of interest for the coming year. These sessions provide important social interaction and learning opportunities in our rural community and are typically filled with much conversation and laughter. Topics range from “Heart Health” to “The Health Benefits of Music and Dance” to a “Lively Discussions on End-of-Life Issues”! Focus on Health recently received recognition by the Rural Health Coordination Centre of BC who identified our FOH series as one of four innovative programs to be featured during the 2022 BC Rural Health Conference in Penticton. A joint presentation with the Selkirk College of the FOH program was given at the Conference to over 200 attendees, mostly rural family physicians and nurse practitioners.  This year our Board hosted our first Health Fair on June 17th. Our goals for staging the Health Fair were to provide information on all of the numerous health programs, resources, and activities that enhance/promote health; to attract volunteers and new members as well as to encourage young people to explore various health related careers. To our delight 26 vendors attended from multi facets of health from Physical, Social, Spiritual, Emotional to Environmental. Some examples are: Mental Health for Adolescence, Emergency Health Services, Yoga, Keep Fit, Dance, Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors, the Fire Department, Men’s Shed, the BC Rural Health Network, Sound Therapy, and Hospice Care. It was a great success with about 100 people attending and participating. As in any rural area it’s important that we all work together. We support and recognize the efforts of The East Shore Emergency First Responders (BADEV, Riondel), Riondel Ambulance Services, Senior Services, Community Connections, and the East Shore Transportation Society. We are a very proud member of the BC Rural Health Network. One of our Board members, Peggy Skelton, who has been actively engaged with the Network since its inception, was nominated the president this year. Membership in the BCRHN is an invaluable resource as it understands rural community issues and through its various connections can provide some useful, implementable solutions. The East Shore is not only beautiful in its physical appearance, the residents on the East Shore are some of the most amazing and friendly people you could meet! The ESKLCHS is proud and humbled to not only reside in the area but to volunteer their time, in aid of the East Shore in gaining the health services they need and deserve! Visit all our recent Members of the Month here… |
