Claudia Culley
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
The Naniamo Regional Hospital District (NRHD) Board is hosting a health summit on Nov. 13 to create opportunities for leaders from First Nations, local governments, the province, health authorities, community health organizations and the business sector to discuss the future of health care in Central and North Vancouver Island.
“Health Forward – Advancing Health Care in Central and North Vancouver Island” will be held at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre in Nanaimo from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and address health-care issues with a focus on solutions and partnerships. Attendees will be able to engage in conversations around continued investment and growth of health-care facilities and services.
The Gabriola Health Care Foundation, which is a member of the Gabriola Health and Wellbeing Collaborative, will be sending a representative to the event.
Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley, vice-president of the Gabriola Health Care Foundation, said that they will be discussing sending other members from the collaborative at a meeting that will be held in late August.
“I think it is fair to say that this conversation is a priority for the Gabriola Health Care Foundation,” she said, adding that they will be planning what they hope to get out of the event closer to its date.
The summit will also aim to find ways to work with the provincial government to move forward with the new patient tower and cardiac catheterization lab projects at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH), which B.C. Premier David Eby promised last fall to build.
Other objectives include generating insights on health care in the region, showing a unified commitment from attending leaders to improving health care and providing a platform to share health-care updates that are of public interest.
Continued planning of the event is still underway with NRHD staff seeking guest speakers and panellists throughout the remainder of July and August.
This event is part of the NRHD’s advocacy strategy for its five priority projects — the patient tower replacement, a new cancer centre, the cardiac catheterization lab, a new high acuity unit and a long-term care facility. The strategy highlights the difference in health-care standards between the south island and central/north island regions and why the five projects need to be of provincial priority.
To learn more about the NRHD, visit https://rdn.bc.ca/hospital-district.
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