Northern Health recently released an infographic showing its response to the 2017 wildfires in Quesnel and Prince George.
According to the graphic, 304 evacuees were served by community services in the two cities, including by home care nursing and home support workers. The cost of alternative accomodations for evacuees totalled $246,519.
There were 23 births and 16 evacuee deaths in the cities between July 7 to Aug. 23 2017, and 126 beds were borrowed to help evacuees while 158 pieces of medical equipment was borrowed from the Red Cross. Northern Health in Prince George and Quesnel saw 515 people visit the Emergency Rooms at local hospitals.
A total of 207 evacuees were transported home from Northern Health facilities once the evacuation orders were lifted via 13 buses and 45 ambulance transfers.
Staff put in 2,568 shifts at Emergency Operations Centres.
The 2017 wildfires triggered a 10-week provincewide state of emergency and forced the evacuation of about 65,000 people from their homes. In total, an area twice the size of Prince Edward Island was scorched.
The Northern Health response numbers were presented at the B.C. Health Care Leaders Conference in Vancouver by Greg Marr, Northern Health’s regional director, medical affairs, and Jason Jaswal, Prince George director of long-term care and support services.
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editor@quesnelobserver.com
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