KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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AUGUST 25, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 102
TODAY’S WEATHER
Sunny and clear High 30 C Low 13 C
SERIOUS INJURIES FOR TAXI DRIVER AFTER ATTACK
A HERO’S WELCOME FOR PENDREL
Cabbie stabbed in early-morning altercation yesterday, police say
Olympic bronze medallist returns home to Kamloops
A3
A22
Safe-injection site could open in Kamloops this year, IHA says Health authority working now to find suitable site for facility DALE BASS
STAFF REPORTER
dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Interior Health Authority hopes to open a safe-injection site in Kamloops before the end of the year. “Ideally, we would want that,” said Dr. Silvina Mema, an IHA medial health officer overseeing the project. First, a location is needed and work is being done now to identify it, she said. IHA is looking at a model that would see the clinic located in another location that already provides health and harm-reduction services to people using drugs, rather than creating a stand-alone site. It also plans to open one in Kelowna. “We have a limited number of options where we can put it,” she said. The next step would be to take the plan to
What do you think? Should Kamloops be home to a safe-injection site? Email us at editor@ kamloopsthisweek.com. city council. Mema said Kamloops has been a frontrunner in harm reduction, noting Royal Inland Hospital was the first to offer naloxone kits that could be used to reverse opioid-related overdoses. In the first six months of the year, Kamloops had 22 such deaths, three times the total for all of 2015. The IHA has predicted this year’s total could be six times the seven deaths last year. “It’s not going to be shocking to Kamloops, we would hope,” Mema said of the plan. See DOCTORS, A10
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
Bishop Joseph Nguyen is taking over the reins of the Kamloops diocese of the Roman Catholic Church at a ceremony today.
Nguyen ready for new role CAM FORTEMS
STAFF REPORTER
cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
T
he new Bishop of Kamloops will be joined by several thousand people today at the Sandman Centre to celebrate his ordination as the head of the Roman Catholic diocese.
THE ORDINATION The ordination and installation of Bishop Joseph Nguyen is set for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at Sandman Centre. Among several thousand people expected are 18 Roman Catholic bishops from Canada and the United States and 100 priests, including from North America and Vietnam. A mass will be held tomorrow at Sacred Heart Cathedral downtown.
Thirty years ago, Joseph Nguyen shared a different kind of room: with 150 other men in a Vietnam prison, surviving on two
bowls of rice a day. One bathroom and four litres of water — drink it, flush it or wash with it. After six months,
Nguyen could no longer walk. A Catholic bent on entering the priesthood since he was a child, he was an enemy of the state who tried and failed to flee the country as one of thousands of boat people in the 1980s. It was not his first brush with a Vietnamese communist government.
JORDANS FLOORING OUTLET
WELCOMES JORDON SURINA Jordon has found his new passion - as a flooring expert in a great store whose name called out to him! A 20 year native of Westsyde, Jordon brings to the Jordans team over 10 years home finishing, construction and customer service experience. SERVING WESTERN CANADA SINCE 1929 KAMLOOPS - 975 NOTRE DAME DRIVE - 250.372.7515
"I am very excited to return to this industry in a customer service role. I welcome all my clients and friends to visit me and allow me to help you with your flooring needs”.
See CATHOLIC, A11