Williams Lake mayor confident Josie Osborne will deliver on promises

Rathor handed a list of priorities to the minister which they discussed during their meeting and which he said she promised to work on.

“My most important point is the mental health,” the mayor said, adding the city has an issue with drug use and needs greater access to wraparound services.

“I want them to go to the proper treatment,” Rathor said. “I feel sorry for those people; they’re not there by choice, they’re there because they had no choice…I have an equal heart for everybody, and that’s my duty, my job, my responsibility.”

Rathor said he wants to see more detox beds in Williams Lake or in its vicinity. He also said there needs to be a strategy to ensure overall safety in the community.

“We need those things…and I requested her to address that ASAP.”

The mayor said he also emphasized the city’s need for more healthcare workers, especially as work on the multi-million dollar addition to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital nears completion.

“There are lots of people sniffing already,” Rathor was told. He said Osborne told him lots of people are looking forward to working in a new, upgraded hospital versus older hospitals elsewhere. Among those interested, he said, are ‘our very own’ UBC students near graduation who won’t need further licensing and will be able to start working as soon as they can.

Among the solutions they discussed were facilitating the transfer of credentials for out-of-province healthcare workers, introducing incentives to recruit healthcare professionals in rural B.C., providing financial support and implementing policy changes to facilitate additional training opportunities for healthcare professionals.

“We are trying our best to do whatever we can,” Rathor said about the city’s efforts to address the issues he raised with the minister.

“Have we resolved the homelessness? No. Have we resolved the mental health? No. (But) we have done lots,” the mayor said. “We have come a long way, but my famous saying is ‘we have a long way to go yet’.”

What’s important, he said, is that the city is making progress, and he believes that’s happening.

“In the past we have resolved so many issues, we will resolve this issue also.”

In an interview with the Tribune, Osborne said she loved visiting Williams Lake.

“It’s so important for me to get out and away from Victoria and talking to people in our communities,” she said, adding that it gives her a greater understanding of the reality each community is facing. Along with the mayor Osborne met with Kukpi7 Willie Sellars and local health care practitioners, and she toured the new Urgent Primary Care Centre and the All Nations Healing House.

“It’s incredibly inspiring,” she said about seeing the different ways in which the All Nations Healing House has been combining traditional and modern medicine to provide culturally-safe and trauma-informed care to their patients.

On Wednesday, Osborne toured the new tower being constructed at the hospital which she said was looking phenomenal.

“It’s just really good to see that that’s the kind of state of the art facility we can build…people in rural communities really deserve it,” she said.

The minister also said she had discussions about the way the delivery of medicine is changing and how healthcare facilities can build a team-based care approach similar to the All Nations Healing House.

Among the solutions the ministry is working on to address the shortage of healthcare workers, Osborne said a medical school will open in Surrey next year with a focus on family medicine.

“90 per cent of students who do medical school in B.C. stay in B.C.,” she said, optimistic that this will help deliver and retain healthcare workers in the province.

Osborne said she had a really good meeting with the mayor and told him about the ministry’s work on building a continuum of supports to effectively address mental health issues and substance use.

“It’s important to hear about the challenges right from the ground but also to discuss opportunities,” she said.

Both said they look forward to continue working together and building relationships.

“Working together is the best way to do it,” Rathor said.

Osborne’s tour of the region began and ended in Kamloops, with stops in Vernon, Cache Creek and 100 Mile House along the way.

by Andie Mollins, Local Journalism Initiative, Williams Lake Tribute

Williams Lake mayor confident Josie Osborne will deliver on promises

Our Community