"Don't Get Sick": Young People and Health Care in the Central Vancouver Island Area

Life on Gabriola TV presents a series on the health care situation in the central Vancouver Island area. In this second segment, we look at the experiences of young people seeking access to medical care. Associate Journalist Althea Rasendriya interviews Nanaimo residents Alicia He and Natasha Vaswaney, Gabriola Islander James Burroughs, and Erika Berg, a former Nanaimo resident now living in Kamloops.

In a health care system already scrambling to keep up with the needs of an aging population, young people sometimes find themselves squeezed to the margins. They are often dependent on walk-in clinics for care, but the interviewees here describe long line-ups and prioritization of needs deemed more urgent. And in hospital emergency rooms they experience the same wait times, sometimes epically long, as everyone else. It amounts to, says He, a simple prescription: "Don't get sick."   

Key moments:

00:17
Rasendriya provides an overview of her findings.
05:35:
Meet the interviewees.
07:15:
Individual accounts of accessing medical services, including wait times and challenges. Emergency room experiences.
09:05
For James, how living on Gabriola Island adds to the challenge of finding health care.
16:12
Difficulties in finding and maintaining a family doctor. Stressful situations when dealing with health issues without a regular healthcare provider.
19:15
Exploring the use of apps like Telus Health for medical advice. An instance of paying for an online consultation.
23:43
Challenges faced by university students in accessing health and wellness centres. The impact on student well-being.
27:00
How age can shape one's experience. Erika also describes differences between health care in Nanaimo and in Kamloops, where she lives again now.
29:50
Tips on navigating the medical system in the central Vancouver Island area.

Life on Gabriola TV is generously sponsored by:
The Gabriola Arts Council
The Haven, Gabriola Island