Starting school on the right foot

Parents can help their children get the best possible start to school this September. Here are a few ideas from the Ministry of Education:

• Talk to your children about the mixed emotions they may be feeling as the school year approaches. Remind them that they will make friends, learn new things, and have fun.
• Confirm what time school starts and what type of information or identification is required the first day.
• Get your children started on their routine before the first day. Consider having them shift to their school bedtime and wake-up routine the week before school begins. Have them select their outfits the night before.
• Encourage older students to review their class schedule and make an appointment with a counsellor if there are any problems.
• Consider arranging a visit to the school so your son or daughter can scout out their classrooms as well as the library, gym and cafeteria.
• Have children practise using their combination lock to make sure it works and they know how to use it.

• Help your children pack their backpacks. Ensure backpacks are no more than 10 to 20 per cent of the child’s body weight, and make sure children always use both shoulder straps.
• Find a safe route to and from school and practise the route with your children. Identify safe places along the route like a friend’s house or a store your children can go to if they encounter trouble. Discuss how to interact safely with strangers.
• Ensure they always wear a helmet when riding a bicycle or scooter.
• Talk to your kids about appropriate behaviour at school and what to do if they encounter bullying.
• Encourage your older kids to talk to you about issues that are important to them including alcohol, drugs and healthy sexual decision-making. Give your teenagers a sense of confidence: this is the best defence against peer pressure.

Help them be healthy

• Pack healthy snacks in your children’s lunches. Let them help so they learn to make healthy choices. Teach them to avoid junk food – or to eat only small amounts.
• Put older students in charge of some of the family's meals and grocery shopping so they learn how to buy, prepare and enjoy nutritious foods.
• Insist on breakfast. It helps people maintain a healthy weight and provides the necessary fuel for students to learn in their morning classes.
• Encourage physical activity, including school sports. Help older students explore other options like yoga or climbing at the local community centre.

• Let your children see you read, and set aside time each day for family reading. For example, ask your children to read to you from a storybook while you cook dinner. Help your children get a library card and take weekly trips to the library. Talk to them about what they read.
• Set up a homework area away from the TV with adequate supplies and lighting. When it is time for them to do homework, do yours. Balance your chequebook, pay your bills, or immerse yourself in a book. This will reinforce strong study habits. Encourage your children to tackle their most difficult work first; be available to answer questions and offer assistance, but never do the homework for them.
• For older students, put an assignment calendar on the fridge for quick reference of due dates, exams, and how they fit in with other activities. Encourage them to take 20 minutes each night to review their notes from the day or re-write them using colours to highlight the most important information.

• If your children are in elementary school, meet their homeroom teacher and school principal. You can get valuable insight into their progress by talking to school staff.
• In fact, children of all ages tend to do better when their parents are involved in their education. Contact your local school board or the Parent Advisory Council at your child’s school for volunteer opportunities.

The new school year can be an exciting time, but it’s also an expensive time for families – particularly those on income assistance. That’s why the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance has doubled the school start-up supplement this year to help families on assistance with the cost of back-to-school supplies.

“This government’s first great goal is to be the best educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent,” said Claude Richmond, Minister of Employment and Income Assistance. “By doubling the school start-up supplement we’re making a real difference for families on assistance so the children in those families can start school well-equipped along with their peers.”

Parents on income assistance now receive $84 for each child between 5 and 11 years old, and $116 for each child from 12 to 18. These amounts, based on the average spent per child on back to school supplies according to the Retail Council report, are available to parents of children enrolled in school full time.

“We are committed to giving B.C.’s children the best opportunities available and the brightest possible future,” said Richmond. “I wish everyone an exciting return to a school year full of new experiences and academic successes.”

For more information on this and other programs available to parents on income assistance, go to the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance website at www.eia.gov.bc.ca/olr.

New employment program means more job success

Imagine that after being on income assistance for months, you haven’t managed to land a job. You’ve handed out countless resumes, followed up with phone calls – even had some positive interviews – but still no job. Each time gets harder and more frustrating, and your confidence is at a low ebb.

Then imagine you are given a personal job coach who identifies three things that will make a difference for you. Now you have the support you need to develop an eye-catching resume, to practise and perfect your interview skills, to upgrade your skills – in short, to land a great job.

Welcome to the B.C. Employment Program, which offers new hope to 15,000 British Columbians a year, and is expected to put participants on the road to building a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Under the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance’s new $35-million program, service providers are working one-on-one with clients for the first time. Together they develop an individualized package of employment services and supports specifically designed to meet their needs and capabilities.

“We’ve been highly successful over the past few years helping our employable clients find and keep good jobs,” says Claude Richmond, Minister of Employment and Income Assistance. “Through this new program we’re able to provide people who have more barriers to employment with the individualized supports they need to succeed.”

The ministry has contracted three prime service providers to manage and deliver the program – GT Hiring Solutions, the B.C. Society of Training for Health and Employment (THEO BC) and WCG International Consultants. These organizations, in turn, are working with over 80 community-based service providers who have the in-depth knowledge and experience to help people build their skills and find jobs.

Services range from basic supports like self-directed job searches and access to job banks and computers to more intense supports like short-term certificate training and work experience. Clients may also receive help for work-related expenses as needed.

Christine Stoneman of GT Hiring Solutions says the new program will make a real difference in the lives of people facing greater challenges to employment – including older workers, people with a long welfare history or limited work experience, new immigrants, and people facing personal problems.

“We’re excited about working with clients through this new program,” says Stoneman. “Recognizing the unique challenges and needs of each person and helping them move forward and make progress in their employability, and ultimately helping our clients live a more fulfilled life, is what the B.C. Employment Program is all about to us.”

Certainly there has never been a better time in British Columbia to find a job. B.C.’s economy is thriving, creating a record number of jobs. Since December 2001, British Columbia has created over 302,000 jobs, and almost 90 per cent of these are full time.

For more information on the B.C. Employment Program and other Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance programs and services, please visit the Online Resource at www.eia.gov.bc.ca/olr.

Better health found in new e-library

Your doctor will never set foot inside this library. Researchers and health-care students will never rifle through its stacks of scholarly papers.

But that’s just fine with the people and organizations behind this collection of more than 14 million articles and abstracts, which is improving care for patients by bringing the most up-to-date knowledge to health professionals by way of their computers.

It’s the Electronic Heath Library of B.C. (eHLbc for short), which is finding a growing number of enthusiastic fans across the province, as health-care providers, students and clinical researchers applaud the results of a two-year project to make access to leading health science journals and publications as close as their nearest computer terminal.

The data portal provides access to over 9,300 journals, about 1,500 full-text journals, and 360,000 records relating to evidence-based reviews in areas such as medicine, psychology, psychiatry, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine and pre-clinical sciences.

The library improves care for patients by providing doctors, psychologists, nurses and other health-care professionals with the most up-to-date knowledge on topics like diagnostic and treatment protocols, enhancing evidence-based patient care and providing information on the latest technologies.

“This has been a great partnership between the Ministry of Health, the health authorities, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, universities and colleges,” said Health Minister George Abbott during the library’s launch. “This is going to be a great help to administrators, to clinicians, to students, and particularly to patients.”

Championed by health librarians in B.C.’s post-secondary and health-care systems and by the B.C. Academic Health Council, the library quickly came to life after an injection of $300,000 from the Ministry of Health.

The steering committee for the library, reporting to the Academic Health Council, includes representation from the six health authorities, 24 public post-secondary institutions, three provincial ministries (Health, Children and Family Development, and Advanced Education) and the College of Physicians & Surgeons of British Columbia. Nancy Levesque, director of library and information services at Thompson Rivers University, co-chairs the committee.

“The Electronic Health Library of B.C. is a cost-effective and efficient service delivery model," Levesque said. "In B.C., our health-care professionals now have access to expand, evidence-based research resources.”

Theresa Prior, president of the Health Libraries Association of B.C., noted that health librarians have been working for the last decade to provide equal access to timely, quality information for all health-care professionals across the province, often a challenging task away from larger centres.

Since the project was inaugurated this spring, other professionals – including social and child protection workers, and even veterinarians – have expressed interest in using the library.

Other groups realizing the benefits of the service include students and graduates moving into practice in rural and remote communities. Through the library, they are able to enjoy the same access as practitioners in major centres, a vital tool in their professional development.