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THE
PRINCE
GEORGE
CITIZEN
MONDAY, JUNE 25 , 2012
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Showtime!
A King and a Cat earn the NHL nod
SPORTS 11
Rescuers stymied in mall collapse
CANADA 18
Meet
Kevin
B.C. 7
An
indifferent choice for
Egypt
WORLD 19
GH
scoops
five
statues
A&E 23
Race
for
B.C.
gold
NEWS 3
REVVED UP
Motocross hits
the Blackwater SPORTS 9 & PHOTOS 17
CITIZEN PHOTO BY DAVID MAH
SAID DOG — Paul and Aidyl Jago, who are Said Dog, were part of the Bluegrass Music Festival at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum Saturday night. Eight bands performed in benefit of the Lakeland Fire Assistance Program.
River on the rise
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
Although not hit with the same degree of wet weather as other parts of the province, Prince George remains under a provincial flood watch.
According to the BC River Forecast Centre, the Fraser River is expected to rise to around 10 metres by tomorrow.
Last Wednesday it hit a high of 10.02 m.
Over the weekend, heavy rains doused the north Okanagan and Shushwap regions rather than the Upper Fraser basin, said centre head David Campbell. However, there’s a “fairly good snowmelt rate”, which means another surge of water through Prince George.
“[Water levels] will be getting back up to levels that we saw earlier in the week or potentially higher,” Campbell said.
As of Sunday morning, the South Fort George gauge was reporting a Fraser River height of 9.1m.
HEALTHCARE
Being a lab rat could be a trap
Be aware of your rights in medical studies: overseer
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
You might not know it, but that sample of blood you’ve given at a community health screening clinic to test for a possible genetic link to high cholesterol levels might also reveal a gene that could lead to irreversible heart disease.
If that information is made available to a life insurance company, it could come back to haunt you. The insurance company could hold back benefits if it can prove the patient failed to disclose he knew he had inherited that disease-causing gene.
Kuo Hsing-Kuo, an associate professor in anatomy and histology at UNBC’s Northern Medical Program, doesn’t want to discourage people from taking part in medical studies now ongoing in the region’s hospitals. But they should be aware of what they are getting into and who they can consult to have their questions answered.
Every year, close to 100 medical research studies are undertaken in Prince George, involving 2,000 patients annually. As chair of the research ethic board at the Providence Heath Care Research Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Hsing-Kuo oversees more than 500 research projects every year.
He also sits on the research review committee of the Northern Health Authority,
and also served on UNBC’s research ethic board.
“There’s nothing wrong with medical research, but we need to educate our community so they understand their rights and they know when they need ethical support,” said Hsing-Kuo.
“If there is some type of health issue at a community event and the person tries to recruit the participant there, that is against our health care regulations. If there is a screening for some disease and the result comes up positive, what are [researchers] going to do about that? Can you just contact the participant? They might not be aware of their rights.
“Unfortunately, the people in the north don’t know when to say ‘no’ and when to ask for support.”
Hsing-Kuo said doctors are to blame if patients are not informed of their roles in research. Sharing of patient information should only be allowed if the individual gives permission. Use of that information must be fully explained to the patient and voluntarily agreed to.
Patients have the right to withdraw from studies at any time without discrimination. For genetic tests, counsellors should be made available to provide information on treatment options, long-term prognosis, and how family members could be implicated.
— see PATIENTS, page 4
Kuo Hsing-Kuo, an associate professor at UNBC, sits on research ethics boards at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital and UNBC.
I
I
YOUNG CITIZENS
Students take on front-line history
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff
The two army helmets and empty 50-mill-metre mortar casing Nolan Peake brought to his Heritage Fair project serve as reminders of what his great-grandfather went through as an infantryman in the Second World War.
He was willing to go overseas to fight in the war, and despite being wounded in combat, returned to Canada to raise a family. For that, his great-grandson is thankful. Peake, a Grade 6 student at Foothills elementary school, expressed his gratitude in a short video he made after being declared a regional winner in Heritage Canada’s Young Citizens contest.
Peake and two Fraser Lake secondary school Grade 9 students - Emily Lindstrom and Rylan Tsuji - were picked as finalists from the Prince George regional fair in May. They are part of a group of 200 regional winners across Canada
m'Tve always been interested in World War II and I just wanted to look into the facts and I don't want people to forget World War II. If people forget it could happen again, and this time it could actually destroy the whole world."
trying to gather enough online votes to make it into the top six and win a free trip to Ottawa in November to attend the Governor-General’s History Awards and National History Forum.
“The most interesting thing that I learned about my topic was that if Canadians did not go to war we would not have the freedoms we have today,” said the 12-year-old Peake. “We have a lot more freedoms than other countries.
“I’ve always been interested in World War II and I just wanted to look into the facts and
Nolan Peake
I don’t want people to forget World War II. If people forget it could happen again, and this time it could actually destroy the whole world.” Lindstrom’s project delved into her family history and how her great-grandmother Gertrude Kurz (now 94) came over to Canada from Germany in 1956 with her husband Fritz and nine-year-old son (Emily’s grandfather Gary Kurz), enduring a rough Atlantic crossing on board a small passenger ship.
— see ‘HE STILL, page 5
ANNIE'S MAILBOX 23 A&E 23-24 WORLD NEWS 19
BRIDGE 23 CLASSIFIEDS 20-22 SPORTS 9-17
HOROSCOPE 2 LETTERS 6 OPINION 6
COMICS 24 B.C. NEWS 7
CROSSWORD 24 CANADA NEWS 18
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