Interior Health’s new chief medical health officer eager to build up public trust of health experts

“It’s been relatively good,” he says when asked what the pandemic situation has been like for the Interior. “I know we had a little bit of a cluster in Kelowna lately. Kamloops has been spared for the most part from big outbreaks at least, and from big issues. And it’s kind of doing more of the same. Making sure people actually follow all the guidelines.”

However, Dr. de Villiers says letting up on preventative habits after seeing case numbers stabilize can be extremely risky. He says those figures only reflect the people who were found or came forward to be tested.

“So lets say there are ‘X’ number of cases in Kamloops that we know about. That doesn’t mean that those are the only cases in Kamloops. I’m always a little bit leery to say, ‘Oh there are zero cases in ‘X’ community so you can relax,’ because we don’t know about all the cases,” he explains. “We want to make sure people keep their vigilance up for exactly that reason. So they can keep the cases away.”

To combat conspiracy theories around COVID-19, vaccines and other public health matters, Dr. de Villiers says Interior Health is working to build up public trust in health authorities and medical professionals through regular updates with factual information.

“I know Dr. Bonnie Henry has been amazing. She’s been really helping people to see that yes, there is some logic in there, and as a trusted source of information. We want to make sure we kind of build on that.”

According to Dr. de Villiers, one positive from the pandemic has been the heightened focus on regular hand washing, and other ways to limit germ spread. However he does note that it’s a practice doctors have always urged people to do.

“You’ve always had to do that. You’ve always had to stay home when you’re sick, you’ve always had to cover your cough. This isn’t new. So I’m glad that its becoming the new normal. Even if you go into a store or anything now people look at you strangely if you stand too close to them.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic nears close to the usual cold and flu season, Dr. de Villiers says the increased cleaning, hand washing and physical distancing could make a difference in the number of people who wind up getting sick.

“If people actually follow all these things and stay home when they’re sick and do everything we always have told them for the last 100 years, then yes. I think we’ll hopefully see a lesser season,” he says. “Influenza season is different every year. Sometimes it is worse than other years so we’ll have to see what happens this year, but if everybody keeps those measures you’ll be able to protect yourself better.”

With a new chief medical health officer (MHO) and a newly appointed regional health officer for Kamloops, Mayor Ken Christian says he’s eager to discuss how public health can grow its role in the community.

“The public health role I think is going to be quite changed as we move through this pandemic period,” Christian says. “A healthy built environment is going to be very important and certainly wellness within our population. Mental health is a constant issue, and certainly addiction both from drugs and alcohol. So a sobering centre and those kinds of things would be high on my agenda.”

As he settles into his new home in Kelowna, Dr. de Villiers says he hopes to learn more about what individual communities need — including Kamloops.

“There will be an MHO (Dr. Carol Fenton) locally who will be able to address those local issues as well, so I’m looking forward to working with her.”

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Interior Health’s new chief medical health officer eager to build up public trust of health experts

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