A Harvard-trained doctor and breathing specialist, Dr. Sorouch Zaghi will be giving the first in-person lecture in two years at Kelowna General Hospital Friday, May 6 at 6 p.m.

“Kelowna is excited and honoured to welcome world-renowned Dr. Sorouch Zaghi, ear nose and throat and sleep specialist from The Breathe Institute. This is the first Canadian in-person lecture since 2020,” said Dr. Hilary Pada.

Dr. Zaghi is a leader helping patients suffering from airway issues, nasal obstruction, snoring, sleep apnea, tongue-tie and anyone seeking a healthier roadmap to better breathing and overall wellness.

“We are beyond thrilled to have such a well-respected and educated doctor to spend time with us here in Kelowna. The experience and knowledge Dr. Zaghi will share about breathing will be amazing for anyone from health professionals to the general public who share an interest,” says Dr. Pada. “Breathing is something we all do for survival, an essential part of life. This is very exciting for our community.”

Dr. Zaghi graduated from Harvard Medical School, and completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UCLA, and Sleep Surgery Fellowship at Stanford University. The focus of his sub-specialty training is on the comprehensive treatment of tongue-tie, nasal obstruction, mouth breathing, snoring, and obstructive sleep apnea.

Fore more information on the presentation click here.

After a rocky first year of e-scooters on city streets, Kelowna has launched its new micro-mobility permit program with an eye towards overall safety.

According to the City of Kelowna, roughly 50 serious injuries caused by e-bikes and e-scooters were reported last summer, so finding the right companies to join forces with the city was vital, and that included the new rule of these vehicles providing helmets for their riders.

“It is something new for this permit season. It’s a recommendation that we reached in partnership with Interior Health after collaborating on a study on e-scooter injuries over the summer,” said Cameron Noonan, transportation planner for the City of Kelowna, at a public safety event Thursday in Stuart Park.

The City of Kelowna held a competitive permit application process over the winter where they received several applications which were scored on the company’s commitment to sustainability, to equity, as well as the technology and features offered. That includes Lime’s new built in training program for first-time users.

“When you come into the market for the first time, you start in training mode which is a reduced speed of 12 kilometres for the first number of trips,” explained Derek Robertson of Lime Scooters. “On top of that, we run a number of safety events throughout the season. Finally, there is an acknowledgement in the app that these are the rules in Kelowna.”

The city says this is an important way to give the residents of Kelowna more options to leave their car at home. Options for shorter trips, to cut down on congestion, to reduce emissions and to keep Kelowna moving. Two companies, Spin and Lime, are happy to help with those goals.

“We’ve been really excited to be in Kelowna over the last year. Right from the beginning when Kelowna decided to take the step to introduce e-scooters, over the last year we have found it to be a very successful program and residents and visitors of Kelowna have really taken to micro-mobility as a whole,” said Robertson.

According to the City, you can expect up to 1,000 new vehicles in Kelowna – 700 scooters and 300 bikes.

toque fundraising campaign has raised $8,302 for the people of Ukraine since it started back in April.

Big White’s senior vice president Michael J. Ballingall tells Castanet they were hoping to raise $10,000 for the cause.

“The team at Kelowna Stands With Ukraine Association desperately needs the funds, so we will be making the presentation tomorrow, Friday, May 6.

Ballingall says Big White white partnered with the Quebec company that produces their toques, “Elle and her team reached out to BulaBula out of Quebec, who manufacture our world-famous snowball pompom toques,” and all proceeds of the blue and yellow toques are going directly to Ukraine.”

“They are doing good work, so on behalf of all those who have contributed, we would like to say thank you,” Ballingall said.

Rain was falling as a sombre ceremony got underway at the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society Wednesday to mark Red Dress Day.

In Canada, May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women & Girls. It’s a day to raise awareness and remember those who have been lost over the years.

Red Dress Day started in 2010 as REDress project established by Indigenous artist Jamie Black.

At the Ki-Lo-Na Friendship Society, the event included an opening prayer from an elder and singing and drumming led by Krystal Lezard.

Participants then planned to march to the Kelowna courthouse.

Similar events were held across the country and many posts on social media featured Indigenous women with red handprints across their mouths to symbolize solidarity with MMIWG and represent the thousands who have been silenced.

Similar events were held across the country.

The final report of the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls was released in June 2019. It found that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

The two-volume report called for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis, but many of the recommendations have not yet been acted on.

began on the project in December, to upgrade the diversion structure along the Rail Trail near Dilworth Drive. Construction has caused temporary closures and detours along the Rail Trail.

After a drier than normal April, Mill Creek has seen relatively low flows this spring, allowing crews to continue work on the upgraded diversion structure. But with rains in the forecast, the city made the decision to open up the new project late Wednesday night, diverting some of Mill Creek into Mission Creek.

“We’ve been taking advantage of this low flow to continue the construction work and finish off some elements, knowing anytime that we would stop that and initiate the diversion. We have enough of the construction done where it’s operational now,” said Rod Maclean, City of Kelowna utility planning manager.

“We didn’t want to take any more chance and so last night we had the contractor basically divert the creek back into the structure and it’s now operational this morning. So we actually have flow going out through to Mission Creek right now.

“We still have a bit of work to do, so we’ll wait until the freshet has done, but there should be no flood concerns this year.”

The diversion sends water from Mill Creek, through an eight-foot by eight-foot concrete pipe along Leckie Road, into Mission Creek. Maclean says the new project slows the water in Mill Creek and helps reduce debris jams.

“The original diversion did the same thing. The problem was it was way under capacity for some of the high flows that we’ve been seeing in the last 20-30 years,” he said.

“This climate change factor, where we’re seeing higher flows more consistently, basically led to this structure being unsafe to operate, or difficult for staff to operate. So we’ve made some pretty significant upgrades here.

“Flooding will always be a problem, but the improvements here will reduce some of the ‘flashiness’ of the system.”

Over the past several years, particularly in the springs of 2017, 2018 and 2020, Mill Creek has seen periods of significant flooding which has damaged homes and city infrastructure.

Maclean says the new project will help ease the spikes in streamflows that have been seen in the past.

The city has been working on flood mitigation projects along Mill Creek for the past three years, and work is expected to continue for the next four. The total cost of the work is expected to cost $55 million, and Maclean says the recent diversion upgrade has used about 20% of that budget.

In 2019, the federal government announced $22 million in grant funding for the work on Mill Creek, through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.

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