Peace River District and Northern Lights College team up for healthcare

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The Peace River Regional District (PRRD) has approved recommendations put forward by the Health Care Scholarship Committee from July 2024 regarding collaborating with Northern Lights College.

During the August 15th PRRD board meeting, the board reviewed two recommendations for improved collaboration between the PRRD and Northern Lights College. 

Both recommendations aim to increase and attract students to the Health Care Scholarship Program and ‘Adventures in Healthcare,’ an initiative between Northern Lights College and the Rotary Club. 

During discussions, Chetwynd Director Allen Courtoreille expressed concern and frustration regarding how much the PRRD and municipal governments support local healthcare instead of the province. 

“Now we’re healthcare providers, according to what we do here,” Courtoreille stated. 

The director explained that he has a hard time feeling as though the province is letting the region down when it comes to helping educate doctors and nurses in northern B.C.

“It’s a bad system, and we’ve gotta live with what we’ve got now, but we’ve got to be able to relate money to healthcare, and here we are giving grants out so we can train our people here.” 

Area D Director Jordan Kealy agreed with Courtoreille’s comments and pointed out that the PRRD has not received a response from Northern Health since the last meeting, when the board discussed concerns about healthcare. 

“I don’t know what to do other than us trying to help ourselves,” Kealy said. 

“That’s what we’ve always been doing. We try and keep trying, we can’t stop trying, but we also try and do the best we can for our citizens with what we can,” Board chair Bradley Sperling stated in reply to Kealy. 

Both recommendations passed unanimously, and the Health Care Scholarship Committee and PRRD staff will begin working with Northern Lights College, starting with participating in the annual fair in October.