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GAS LINE FIRE LIGHTS UP SKY Page 2

Wednesday, October 10, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Time for a fresh coat Lydia Day, a gardener with the City of Prince George, scrapes loose paint off the wooden foot bridge in Rainbow Park to get it ready for painting on Tuesday afternoon.

Advance voting, candidate forums on tap this week Citizen staff Voters interested in beating the crowds can take advantage of some advance voting opportunities this week. The first is today at the Civic Centre, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is open to those who want to cast a ballot in the elections for Prince George city council and school board trustee electoral area one. Those who want to vote in the elections for any of the contested electoral areas in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George will have to go to the regional district’s office at First Avenue and George Street. Votes for the area one school board election will also be accepted there. Another advanced voting opportunity for city council, school board and the regional district races will be held on Thursday at Pine Centre Mall, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Additional opportunities will be held next week, on Oct. 16 at the Civic Centre and regional district office, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Oct. 17 at the Bentley Centre at UNBC and regional district office, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The general voting day is set for Oct. 20, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Locations in the city on that day are at Blackburn Elementary School, D.P. Todd Secondary School, Edgewood Elementary School, École Lac des Bois, John McInnis Centre, Kelly Road Secondary School, Malaspina Elementary School, Ron Brent Elementary School and Vanway Elementary School. Locations for the regional district on that day are at the district office, Nukko Lake Elementary School, Beaverly Elementary School, Miworth Community Hall, West Lake Community Hall, Blackburn Elementary School, Hixon Elementary School, Shell-Glen Fire Hall, Sinclair Mills Community Hall, Ferndale Community Hall, Willow River Fire Hall,Bear Lake Community Commission, Summit Lake Community Hall, Kelly Road Secondary School and Vanway Elementary School. Information on voting eligibility is available at princegeorge.ca and rdffg.bc.ca. As for checking out the candidates before voting, there is a “candidating” event tonight at the main branch of the Prince George Public Library from 6:45-8:30 p.m. — see TRUSTEE CANDIDATES, page 3

Today’s Weather Hi +4° Low -5°

LOCAL HOROSCOPE OPINION NEWS MONEY

Preventing a suicide can be a matter of gut feeling, expert says Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

eing a little nosey can sometimes be a life-saving gesture. That’s the advice Mary Lu Spagrud has for those worried a friend or relative is on the verge of taking their own life. Signs can be both obvious and subtle and there is no textbook way to be sure, the education and projects manager for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s northern region said Tuesday. Spagrud said it’s often a matter of relying on gut feeling and characterized those indications as “invitations” to find out what’s wrong. “These invitations are as unique to the individual as the individual is,” Spagrud said. “We often talk about changes in that person’s norm, we talk about seeing things – maybe people lashing out or withdrawing from normal activities. Normally they sleep well and now they’re not sleeping well.” What someone is saying can also be a

Spagrud said simply reaching out and asking “are you OK?” can be helpful. clue. “Sometimes it can be as direct as ‘I want to kill myself,’ and at other times it’s ‘things would be better off if I’m not here,’ or ‘I can’t take this much more,’” Spagrud said. Support services were put in place over the weekend following what School District 57 has described as a “sudden death” of a College Heights Secondary School student but, according to numerous posts on social media, was the second death by suicide at the school in less than two weeks. Spagrud said simply reaching out and asking “are you OK?” can be helpful. Even if the person doesn’t want to talk about it, the gesture can nudge them in the right direction. But a little training can also go a long way.

The CMHA offers a half-day workshop through its Prince George office. Called SafeTALK, it’s open to anyone over age 15 years old – although some leeway has been given – regardless of prior experience or training. Those who take the training learn to recognize the signs and do some triage and point the person in the right direction in terms of getting longer-term help. The CMHA also offers Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), a more advanced two-day program for anyone over 15 years old, also regardless of prior experience, who wants to be able to provide “suicide first aid.” “Participants learn to intervene and help prevent the immediate risk of suicide,” according to the CMHA Prince George website. For young people, Spagrud said it’s often a matter of lacking life experience to know that “this too shall pass.” “They may feel that they may not want to live anymore but they sometimes forget that they didn’t always feel this way,” she said. — see WAVE AND A SMILE, page 3

New Fort St. James hospital advanced to business plan stage Citizen staff A concept plan for replacing the Stuart Lake Hospital in Fort St. James has been given the green light, the provincial government said Tuesday. The next step is development of a business plan – a process that will take 12 to 18 months. Once approved, the project will be advanced to procurement and then construction. “It’s a go! This new hospital has been needed for a long time, and is why Premier John Horgan and I made it a key priority in our efforts to improve health

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care throughout northern B.C.,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement. “The new hospital will bring better acute, primary and community care for people living in Fort St. James, local First Nations and the surrounding area. For a growing senior population in the region and for the economy as a whole, it is an essential public service.” A media event was held Tuesday in the community to announce the development. A cost estimate will be determined during the business plan stage. The hospital opened in 1972 and is outdated in terms of space, function-

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See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

www.pgcitizen.ca

ality and technology. Currently, the hospital has 12 beds and offers emergency, acute and complex care care, as well as residential care, lab and X-ray services, and mental health and addictions counselling. Discussions regarding the replacement of the hospital have been ongoing since 2008. In September 2015, Northern Health submitted a concept plan to the Ministry of Health. Northern Health submitted a revised concept plan to government in summer 2018, which was approved in October 2018.

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