Former pediatrics head at Kelowna hospital says calls for changes were ignored by IH
Global News
In an email to Global News on Wednesday, IH stated one new pediatrician is slated to start working at the hospital this summer with two more expected to join in September.
When Dr. Kate Runkle was head of the pediatrics department at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) between 2019 and 2021, she says she constantly pushed for changes to the pediatric staffing and service model.
“I did presentations at the highest levels that I could to advocate change,” Runkle told Global News.
However, Runkle says those calls for changes to Interior Health (IH) administration continually fell on deaf ears.
“It was like screaming underwater, like we just didn’t get anywhere,” Runkle said.
The unsuccessful pleas from pediatricians working at the hospital started in 2019.
Feeling unheard and devalued for several years, according to Runkle, pediatricians began to resign.
In 2023 alone, seven pediatricians handed in their resignations. Runkle was one of them.
“At a certain point, it just became unsafe,” Runkle said. “I use the analogy of working at a construction site and if you are alerting your staff and your boss about unsafe work conditions over and over again and you’re not being heard — I mean, you would quit. You would go somewhere else.”
American Olympian Katie Uhlaender was hoping to be the first woman to compete in the Winter Games six times for the U.S., but fell just short of qualifying.
The U.S. currently has multiple rounds of tariffs on key sectors of the Canadian economy, including steel, aluminum, autos and lumber.
Cree Nation of Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano is urging members of the community to stay in their homes and lock their doors as police investigate.
Exceptions under the trade deal, known as USMCA in the U.S. and CUSMA in Canada, protect Canada from the heaviest impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured when a truck driver went through a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team's bus at a rural intersection.
Though a complete freeze is near impossible, a mixture of frozen surface water and mist can create the appearance that Niagara Falls has frozen.
The local police say they were called to a private residence in the Atikamekw community of Manawan on Sunday, and discovered two bodies.
The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News also found half of Canadians would trust Prime Minister Mark Carney to handle a potential military threat from the U.S.
Four adults face charges after a trespassing investigation at Western University led to a loaded firearm and hazardous chemicals near campus, police say.
The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts Wednesday, leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6 per cent after lowering it three times last year.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is in the process of buying a building owned by Jim Pattison Developments to use as an ICE processing facility.
The former U.S. attorney who oversaw the prosecution and conviction of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman tells Global News there are similarities in both cases.
The city says it is receiving 3,000 to 4,000 calls daily, including many calls from residents reporting issues related to blocked sidewalks.