• Sicamous was selected to be part of a provincial initiative to provide extended health services from paramedics.
The Community Paramedicine program is expected to roll out early 2017 in Sicamous and 30 other communities in the Interior Health region. Through it, Sicamous will benefit from the service of one full-time equivalent paramedic, providing basic health-care services within their scope of practice, in partnership with local health-care providers, delivered in non-urgent settings, in patients’ homes or in the community.
• A Sicamous man was facing criminal charges after a failed attempt to elude police officers responding to a report of an assault.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, April 21, Sicamous RCMP responded to the report of a disturbance at a residence. When police arrived, they were told an assault had taken place and the suspect had since departed.
• District of Sicamous council agreed to write a letter to School District #83 opposing the proposed closure of the elementary school to amalgamate the two schools at Eagle River Secondary.
Coun. Colleen Anderson broached the subject at a committee of the whole meeting.
“I don’t think it’s a wise move…” said Anderson. “I think an elementary school to attract young families is absolutely necessary and we want to keep the young families that we have here.”
• Michael and Amanda Mack, who had fled the fires in Fort McMurray with their six-month-old baby to live with Michael’s parents in Malakwa, said they received plenty of help and support along the way.
• The District of Sicamous announced plans to double fines over the next three years for those who are required to, but have not hooked up to the municipal sewer system.
• The District of Sicamous was seeking to re-route $5,000 in grant money to assist a group of transportation-focused community volunteers in becoming a non-profit society.
• At its May 11 meeting, council received a presentation from Rose Foster and Chuck Jensen on behalf of the Eagle Valley Transportation Steering Committee.
Foster explained the committee had taken on the task of assisting community members with the launch of a non-profit society that will provide transportation to residents of Sicamous and Electoral Area E. The proposed society’s mandate is to “improve community inclusion and quality of life by providing volunteer transportation to community members who self-identify their need for this service.”
• Firefighters, paramedics, search and rescue crews, police and other Shuswap emergency responders converged on the Waterway Houseboats site at Two Mile on Saturday, May 14, to attend a fire on the docks and a motor-vehicle incident involving a hazardous material spill into Mara Lake.
The large training exercise, arranged by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s Shuswap Emergency Program, in collaboration with Waterway Houseboats and the District of Sicamous, was an opportunity to undertake a large-scale response effort.