Monday, May 6, 2024 - History, song, and making ends meet

🌧 High 11C | Your forecast

Good morning!

This is the first year I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the aggressive seeding of the pansy.

Last summer, I planted a couple sets of Superstore pansies in our front garden. They were small—and frankly lucky to have survived my poor planting skills. But this year, spring arrived with the offspring of our old pansies, almost none of which are in the garden itself. Instead, they seeded themselves in the lawn, where they look like cheerful little rioters amidst the grass. It is delightful.

They’ve already survived two lawn mowings, and I’m excited to see where their little rebel spawn end up next spring.

– Grace

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NEWS

On history, songwriting, and making ends meet

Newspapers are the first draft of history. But when that history becomes trapped inside yellowing pages, musicians are the ones who can bring it back to life. Some, like songwriter Alex Rake, think now is the perfect time to do it.

“There’s a responsibility to share the stories of this town, especially as the population is growing,” he said about Mission. “People that aren’t from here are moving here, because it’s the only flipping way to afford life, without any context of where they are.

“You’re sharing [history] with the people living it.”

Rake is one of the local musicians who have applied for the City of Mission’s newest call for artists, which will see four songwriters work with the Mission Archives to turn old newspaper stories into songs. (You can read The Current’s story on the program here.)

• Today, Grace talks to Rake and fellow musician Patrick Anthony about music, history, and how local communities can better support performing artists.

Related

Need to Know

👍 A Langley marriage commissioner sniffed out a wedding scammer [Langley Advance Times]

🧳 Yarrow’s fantasy-inspired hotel is set to open next month [Daily Hive]

🏒 The Abbotsford Canucks are facing a home elimination game this week [The Province]

⚾ A former Langley little leaguer is re-uniting with his opponent 12 years after they played against each other in Uganda [CityNews]

🏫 An Abbotsford anti-SOGI group is promoting a Vancouver Island school district’s distance-ed program—and the district doesn’t like it [Comox Valley Record]

🐐 Agassiz RCMP rescued a goat from an oncoming train last week [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

🚔 A 25-year-old man was killed in Mission, and a suspect was arrested [CTV]

👉 Wilma’s Transition Society in Chilliwack is suing two former employees for misappropriating $1.4 million [Chilliwack Progress]

🚑 A man was stabbed at Kent Institution near Agassiz [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🏠 A 10-unit strata townhome complex is up for sale in Chilliwack for $4.3 million [Redfin]

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The Agenda

Urgent and primary care centre finally open in Chilliwack

Six years after BC promised residents a new way to get after-hours healthcare, Chilliwack finally has an urgent care centre.

Back in 2018, BC announced it was launching a new primary health care strategy, which focuses in part on bringing urgent care to the province. The first facility in the valley opened two years later in Abbotsford, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its roll-out was plagued by staffing shortages, and urgent care was originally offered only two days a week.

The Chilliwack urgent primary care centre is now the fourth in the Fraser Valley, joining the centres in Abbotsford and Langley, and a newly opened one in Mission. It is operating out of the same Evans Road building that houses the Chilliwack and Fraser Health Rural Primary Care Centre, which opened in 2022 without the urgent care services that accompanied new primary care clinics in other regions.

That Primary Care Centre is part of a care network that includes family doctors, Indigenous wellness services, and healthcare referrals. The new urgent care centre adds a walk-in clinic intended to alleviate the pressure on Chilliwack’s emergency room.

Open only during traditional off-hours, the urgent care clinic is meant for people who need medical attention within the day, but who don’t necessarily need to go to the ER. (Sprains, cuts, high fevers, and minor infections are all reasons to go to the new urgent care centre.) The urgent care centre will be available to people who do not have a family doctor, unlike the existing primary care centre, which only has appointments available for people who are patients of care providers in the clinic.

The urgent care centre’s current location is considered temporary; a health ministry official told The Current a permanent site is “still being confirmed.” The facility only has limited hours to start—it’s open 4:30pm to 8pm, as well as weekends and holidays from 9am to 4pm. The province says hours and staffing will be increased when the centre moves to a permanent location. Abbotsford’s urgent care clinic is open six hours a day on weekdays and 11 hours on weekend days.

🤝 Now hiring

• Family Wellness Specialist at the First Nations Health Authority in Chilliwack

• Building Inspector at the District of Kent

• Hairstylist at Sonu’s Hair and Beauty Lounge in Langley

• Agriculture instructor at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

🗓 Things to do

C3: Seniors interested in art, culture, and history can go to The Reach for its weekly Culture, Coffee, and Cookies (C3) event. Participants will discuss a variety of topics through visual and literary arts. Meetings are on Wednesdays at 10:30am until May 15. Register online.

Peach play: F.G. Leary Fine Arts Elementary students will be performing James and the Giant Peach Jr. at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre from May 6 to 8. Tickets online.

Garden talk: The Langley Environmental Partners Society is hosting its spring garden seminar on May 11. The free event will showcase a number of speakers with gardening tips, and include lunch, prize draws, and a seed swap. Details online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

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