Thursday March 19, 2020 ~ LANGFORD [Updated 11:30 pm March 20, 2020]
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
UPDATE MARCH 20 (at 11:30 pm) – Forbes Pharmacies had in fact stated in a letter that they intend to do COVID-19 testing in Langford, including in-home. Today Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry said “I don’t support that in the moment”, during her joint press conference with Health Minister Dix on Friday afternoon.
================== As posted March 19:
Langford is always about taking action and getting things done. And dealing with the safety of the community during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception.
Langford Mayor Stew Young took the bull by the horns today and welcomed a motion at council to support a local pharmacist-physician team that has organized a tele-support service for anyone in Langford who needs information or guidance about COVID-19.
A presentation about the proposed service was made to council by local pharmacist and entrepreneur Mike Forbes and colleague Dr Jean Paul Lim who is the medical director at Ageless Living Inc.
Mayor Young is concerned about the people of his growing city, many of whom are complaining about not getting through on the 811 line that the BC government has set up to triage incoming COVID-19 inquiries or generally just plain worried about COVID-19 community spread if and when it comes to the west shore.
There are lots of support groups popping up around many communities. Many of them are online in social media, such as the Vancouver Island COVID-19 Support Group, which expresses similar concerns for creating a short-term adjunct service to the mainstream health care system: “We are a community based support group, here for the duration of our communities struggle as COVID-19 effects us all in such a wide spectrum of ways. We need a community initiative to help bridge the gap where the government just can’t get there quick enough.”
The only difference is that Forbes and Lim’s project is now backed by $400,000 in funding as approved by Langford council after a heated debate. The service will *not* visit at people’s homes but will provide guidance on achieving certain types of service as well as general moral support especially for seniors and others who are perhaps struggling with self-isolation.
It was an odd scene, having a council meeting in a parking lot as the warmth of the late afternoon sun departed to make room for the evening cool. Chairs and persons were at least three to six feet apart — following the protocols of the BC Public Health Officer that call for ‘social distancing’.
There was all the usual setup for a council meeting — head table (under a canopy), name plates, agendas, podium, microphone and sound system. There was also hand sanitizer, wipes, and tissues. And media.
About 15 people attended in addition to Council. Attending to hear Mayor Young, Councillors Matt Sahlstrom, Roger Wade, Norma Stewart, Denise Blackwell and Lillian Szpak (and Lanny Seaton by way of phone) were Fire Chief Chris Aubrey, Westshore RCMP Detachment Commander Insp Todd Preston, various business and community leaders (including Jim Hartshorne, Ron Coutre and Hans Fredericksen), and various city hall staffers including CAO Darren Kiedyk, Corporate Officer Braden Hutchins, manager of community safety and municipal enforcement Lorne Fletcher, and manager of business development and events Donna Petrie.
But there was also an eruption of frustration and stress rarely if ever seen at the Langford council table. This robust, action-oriented council ‘had words’ with each other, clearly divided on whether or not to fund the proposed tele-support COVID-19 information service. Sometimes disagreement between members of any council can be brisk for a matter of making a point, but this went beyond that — it was visceral. Deeply-held beliefs and feelings were articulated.
Stew Young was all for the idea, saying he has never received so many calls and texts from the community about one thing. People are scared and frustrated, and wanting more responsiveness from health officials and the 811 line, he said.
Lillian Spzak and Denise Blackwell had other ideas and were dead set against the proposal, while Matt Sahlstrom, Roger Wade, and Norma Stewart each spoke in favour of the proposed pop-up support service that would have a team of people working phones including nurses all with the goal of supporting the community. The project would start right away and ramp as required.
All of council of course cares about the community. But tempers flared over the political heat that could come council’s way. Blackwell chairs the Capital Regional Hospital District Board, while Szpak chairs the city’s Protective Services Committee. Szpak is herself a former adjunct health-care professional and was also articulate about Canada’s standard for universal health care, saying that a support service for just Langford residents smacks of a two-tier health care system.
In normal times under usual circumstances, Blackwell and Szpak’s arguments would have been solidly in defense of broader levels of government and health care taking on such a project. Szpak ended up suggesting the idea be proposed to the Island Health Authority (VIHA), but given the urgency of COVID-19 marching strong with community spread in BC, that would be counter to the whole purpose.
But as the discussion rocked on like a verbal fist fight, something shifted. It’s that sinking pall that is descending on people everywhere in BC and Canada about the unseen COVID-19 virus marching toward us with dread from a distance, but getting closer fast. Gently there was a shift in realizing that these are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary measures — things we wouldn’t normally tolerate or consider.
Public health officials in BC and federally have been careful and articulate in their words and requests for people to self-isolate, practice social distancing and work from home. They have been gently but systematically pressing us out of society and into a protected sort of hiding. Hiding from a virus that spreads person to person through droplets that can sometimes last for days on hard surfaces. It frightens people, and so it should.
Young has grasped the magnitude for several weeks now. He has already spoken up in media about insisting on people being allowed to stay in their cars on BC Ferries vessels (and a few days later that was enacted). Prior to that he had instigated a letter penned by the Westshore Chamber of Commerce showing leadership by Langford to push for more communication and action to be done by the Province of BC.
What Young was expecting did get announced by Premier Horgan and the Minister of Health and Public Health Officer in the days that followed, but case in point – it was slower than people wanted. That’s not to fault the provincial government; it’s a big ‘machine’ and it takes time to move all pieces especially in a fast-changing scenario like the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is yet another example of the sometimes slap-dash but visionary approach of the Langford mayor that has produced the thriving metropolis that Langford now is. Now with a population over 40,000 this city has a vibrancy all its own.
Worldwide, as of today March 19 there are 209,839 COVID-19 infections of which 8,778 resulted in death. Young says he is reading up on all the data and reports of where COVID-19 has broken loose and taken down huge chunks of the population in countries like Italy, but in others where it has not. While COVID-19 has ravaged Italy (35,713 cases as of today with 2,978 deaths), by comparison South Korea — even with 8,413 cases — saw only 84 deaths, and Singapore which saw 313 cases had no deaths. The difference seems to be how quickly the situation is acted upon and how well prepared the health care system is.
Young says not to be surprised if we see 3,500 cases in BC. Earlier today BC Health Minister Adrian Dix reported a count of 271 COVID-19 confirmed cases (with 22 of those on Vancouver Island).
However, on Monday March 16 Minister Dix and Public Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry jointly announced that BC is freeing up “hundreds and hundreds” of hospital beds in BC — and to do that they took the dramatic and drastic step of cancelling all scheduled and elective surgeries (procedures that some people had been awaiting for months or years). That’s how serious it’s likely to get. Are you social-distancing and self-isolating yet?
Of the 12 COVID-19 deaths in Canada, eight have occured in BC (at or associated with seniors care homes).
Langford council meetings can sometimes fly by so fast you hardly see what got done. And sometimes there are large frustrated crowds for public input at those meetings. But this lightly-attended council meeting in the cool breeze of almost-spring with widely separated seating and heated exchanges at the council table was one for the history books.
Despite the sparks that flew and the political disdain that might come from Island Health or even BC Health over setting up an adjunct health support service (for a short time), if there really does come a major spread of COVID-19 the results that will benefit the people of the long-time mayor’s community will have been worth it.
====== OTHER COVID-19 RESOURCES IN THE WEST SHORE
- City of Langford COVID-19 Information Page (including Business Resource Guide)
- West Shore Voice News – several daily posts about a range of COVID-19 developments (locally, regionally, Vancouver Island, BC and national).
- BC Centre for Disease Control – COVID-19 portal including self-assessment tool