This event, due to take place at ArtSpring, 7.30pm on Friday March 13, has been CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC. The discussion will now be ON VIDEO ONLY and available on www.saltspringforum.com from Saturday March 14.
Please see full statement below:
A CHANGE OF PLANS
A week ago, when concern over the spread of the COVID-19 virus was mounting, we at the Forum had the good idea to engage our community in a conversation with two knowledgeable Salt Springers about the virus, about the nature of such epidemics, about best practices for prevention and care, and about whatever else our community might find useful to know. We invited Dr. Kevin Patterson and Aletha Humphreys (Director of Greenwoods) for one of our traditional Forum evening discussions at ArtSpring. Both are happy to join us, and of course without any thought of remuneration.
What a difference a week makes.
It has become clear that public gatherings are getting quite risky. “Social distancing” is recommended as a key component in keeping the epidemic within the bounds of what the health care system can cope with, a point that Kevin made on CBC radio this morning.
So here’s what we’re going to do:
We’ll still go ahead with the conversation with our guests, only we’ll do it without a live audience. We have arranged with a professional video producer to film the discussion between Kevin and Aletha, and then we’ll post the result on the Forum’s website hopefully by Saturday morning.
Here is what you can do:
1) Please e-mail us specific questions you would like us to pose to our guests as soon as you can to forum@saltspringforum.com. We’ll gather them up and do our best to have them answered.
2) If you have already purchased tickets, we’ll be happy to get you a refund. Alternatively, if you’d be willing to treat your tickets as a donation, that would be most helpful for us to cover the costs both of renting ArtSpring and paying for the video. Either way, please put your tickets into an envelope and leave it for us at the ArtSpring Box Office. Please include your address so we can send you either a refund or a tax receipt, as you choose.
Thank you.
COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus.)
How serious is the situation? Will a vaccine become available? What can we do to protect ourselves? Can the health services cope?
Bring your questions to this vital Salt Spring Forum discussion on what we need to know about COVID-19.
Dr Kevin Patterson is a physician specializing in general internal and critical care medicine in Nanaimo and on the west coast of Hudson Bay. He also practices general medicine here on Salt Spring. His fields include the promotion of health and prevention of disease.
He is also a writer of memoir and fiction, winning the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction prize and Victoria Butler book prize in 2003 for his collection of short fiction ‘Country of Cold’. His 2006 novel ‘Consumption’ focuses on diseases amongst the Inuit. Dr. Patterson is currently writing about the COVID-19 epidemic for the Walrus magazine.
He will be joined on stage by Aletha Humphreys, the executive director of Greenwoods Eldercare Society, who will be on the front line if cases start appearing on Salt Spring.
