New Westminster's Royal Columbian Hospital is among the facilities to benefit from a recent agreement on anesthetic services.
RCH, along with surrey Memorial and Victoria General hospitals, will join B.C. Women's in having a dedicated 24/7 obstetrical anesthesiology service.
The hospitals are all level 3 maternity hospitals, providing care for high-risk pregnant women and their babies.
A dedicated obstetrical anesthesiology service ensures that at least one specialist anesthesiologist is on site at all times for obstetric-specific services.
The agreement was signed by the province and the B.C. Medical Association in mid-December.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Health, compensation will be comparable to those for anesthesiologists at B.C. Women's Hospital and Health Centre who perform similar obstetrical work.
GET HELP WITH RESOLUTIONS
It's resolution time - and a handful of programs through the province's health ministry are aimed at helping people keep their promises and meet their goals.
The Healthy Families B.C. program has a number of tools and supports for reducing chronic disease and obesity.
In particular, the smoking cessation program - which was launched in the fall - can provide prescription smoking cessation drugs or nicotine replacement therapy for B.C. residents.
Since launching, more than 60,000 people have called the province's medical line at 8-1-1 to register.
Access to dietitians, risk assessments with family doctors and other tools are available through the program.
An initiative to raise awareness about sodium intake is currently running, with contests running till Jan. 15 at www. healthyfamiliesbc.ca.
For more information, see www.healthlinkbc.ca.
Do you have an item for The Medical File? Send health-related news and ideas to Christina Myers, cmyers@ royalcityrecord.com.
