Funding to benefit community health programs in Shuswap region | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Vernon News

Funding to benefit community health programs in Shuswap region

SHUSWAP - Community-based health programs in the Shuswap region have received added support thanks to funding recently provided by Interior Health to local health societies in Sorrento and Scotch Creek.

Interior Health has provided $120,000 to the Sorrento and Area Community Health Centre Society and $60,000 to the North Shuswap Health Centre Society to help the societies support the operations of health centres in each community over the next three years. These health centres are operated by the societies and are a place at which residents can access services, including those of nurse practitioners.

The Sorrento Community Health Centre is home to a full-time nurse practitioner, who provides primary care services to residents in the region. The nurse practitioner has been serving the community since 2013, after the successful application of Interior Health and the Sorrento and Area Community Health Centre Society under the Province’s Nurse Practitioners for B.C. program. Interior Health also offers home health, public health and mental health and substance use services as outreach from Salmon Arm.

There are nurse practitioner services one day, twice per month, at the North Shuswap Health Centre in Scotch Creek, provided as an outreach service from the nearby Chase Health Centre. Interior Health also offers home health, public health and mental health and substance use services as outreach from Chase and Kamloops to the region’s residents.

Nurse practitioners play a key role in the delivery of quality patient care throughout British Columbia. They are registered nurses with master’s degrees whose advanced education, training and skills enable them to assess, diagnose, consult, order diagnostic tests, prescribe, refer to specialists and assist patients in better managing their chronic health conditions. They work independently and as part of a health care team to help deliver high-quality health care services.

A significant number of Interior Health’s nurse practitioners work in community health centres providing primary health care services. Given increasing demands on today’s health care system, including an aging population and a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, nurse practitioners provide an innovative approach to primary care service delivery in British Columbia.

News from © iNFOnews, 2015
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