December 2020

Local brewers craft for community

You are sitting at your favourite bar in town watching the bartender pour that familiar winter ale that always signals the beginning of ski season. As you wait for them to slide that frosty mug of beer down your direction, you probably aren’t thinking about hop farmers, or the ways the brewery is trying to…

New rural journalism project launches in the Kootenays

Local media are sorely lacking in many rural communities. In the absence of reliable, shared stories and information, communities often miss opportunities to effectively address challenges and seize opportunities. The West Kootenay Eco Society is doing something about that. They’ve launched an online publication, livinghere.ca, that highlights the positive solutions coming out of rural communities,…

How can rural community-engaged health services planning affect sustainable health care system changes?

How can rural community-engaged health services planning affect sustainable health care system changes? That’s the question posed in a “pre-print” process description and qualitative analysis of data from the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia’s Rural Site Visits Project (SV Project), authored by C. Stuart Johnston, Rural Co-ordination Centre of BC (RCCBC), RCCBC’s Erika Belanger…

Community Paramedicine in rural BC, what it is & why it happened — interviews with Nancy Kotani & Amy Poll

BC’s Community Paramedicine Program, the first of its kind in Canada, provides rural residents with access to information and care previously lacking in many small, remote communities. Nancy Kotani, former Chief Transformation Officer for British Columbia Emergency Health Services, led the development and implementation of BC’s Community Paramedic project, the first province-wide initiative of its…