The organizing committee behind the Lakes District healthcare kiosk project is urging residents to come forward with stories, anecdotes, photos of their healthcare experiences in the area.
The committee that has been working on and planning to launch a digital healthcare kiosk and display it in the foyer of the Lakes District Hospital in Burns Lake, has been tracking the footprint of healthcare system in the Lakes District area, through history.
Bernice Magee, the director of the committee, said that the idea behind this was to ensure there was a record of the rich history of Burns Lakes healthcare scene. “We have had a variety of doctors, nurses, cooks, janitorial staff, administrative staff who have lived in our community. So anecdotes, pictures, stories about who delivered your baby, who stitched your cut or who put a cast on your broken arm, would be valuable to the project,” she said.
Magee informed that anybody with photos could drop them off at the museum from Monday to Friday and Michael Riis-Christianson will scan them. You can then collect your photos back from the museum. “We don’t want to accumulate photos and we want to make sure that people know that they don’t have to give up their photos permanently for this project,” added Magee.
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Magee insisted that history is so much more enjoyable to read if you can identify the situation and background to it and this would not only make for a record of healthcare in the Lakes District but also generate community involvement. “A lot of people don’t know that the first hospital in the Lakes District was actually across Francois Lake. There were two hospitals across the lake and then it was moved into an old log cabin that was floated down from Decker Lake and reconstructed at the top of Third avenue. It is still being used as private residence. The next hospital was the George Brown Memorial building beside Highway 16, next to Subway. That was a hospital as well and it moved at the hill after that.”
Magee and her husband came to the Lakes District area in 1968 and her husband George practiced medicine here. Magee says that the kiosk would hold stories from him as he has had several years of anecdotes and stories from his time working here. However, getting as many stories as possible to the digital archive, that would be an ongoing project would be beneficial for maintaining the area’s healthcare history. “It is just a record of interesting places and faces.”
Magee also said that she would be happy to receive any stories via email on bernicemagee45@gmail.com or if they wanted to mail items or stories directly to her, they could also do so, to Box 790 Burns Lake, B.C. V0J1E0.
Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar
priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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