Despite accusations that they are "killers of the sick and elderly," a growing number of B.C. health-care workers are resisting a mandatory flu shot, arguing that it is an issue of personal choice. And now, a union representing thousands of health-care workers in the province, is telling them they have a right to opt out, even if that potentially works against public health efforts to stop the spread of the disease.

Byline: Cindy E. Harnett 

B.C. nurses have voted in favour of a two-year contract negotiated last month with the Health Employers' Association of B.C.

More than 32,000 registered nurses and psychiatric nurses across B.C. voted almost 85 per cent to ratify a contract that will boost their pay and replace nurses on holiday or sick leave.

In the first year of the contract, nurses will have no wage increase. A three per cent increase will kick in on April 1, 2013.

The B.C. government has reached a tentative two-year agreement with the province's nurses, Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid announced Wednesday.

"This is the result of some very hard work on both sides of the table," MacDiarmid said Wednesday as she announced the tentative deal.

The B.C. Nurses' Union wants to scrap an unpopular workplace attendance scheme imposed by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and an independent arbitrator has been called in to mediate the dispute.

The four-year-old attendance and wellness program was implemented to increase productivity among health care workers by cutting down on sick days, but nurses maintain they are being harassed and forced to go to work when ill, jeopardizing their own health and that of patients.

Byline: Robert Freeman 

Chilliwack was urged at a Tuesday night "town hall" meeting to push back against the pending closure of the rehab unit at Chilliwack General Hospital.

Chilliwack-Hope MLA Gwen O'Mahony, who organized the meeting, gamely vowed to carry a call to cancel the closure until all the community's concerns are addressed to Health Minister Mike de Jong.

Chilliwack-Hope MLA Gwen O'Mahony will moderate a townhall meeting next week on a decision she has little, if any, power to change.

Two months ago Fraser Health announced the closure of the 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit at Chilliwack General Hopsital (CGH), a unit that was opened with much fanfare from the BC Liberals in 2006.

The decision is made-the changes have been announced and some employees have been told their jobs are gone.

So what's the point of a townhall meeting now?

Tim Laidler's Remembrance Day began, as it so often has since his return from Afghanistan in 2008, with a media interview, followed up by a moment of silence for the friends and colleagues he lost to war.

At 26, Laidler has become something of a spokesman for combat veterans in British Columbia. His rocky transition back into a civilian career after an eight-month posting with the Canadian Forces in Kandahar serves as a cautionary tale to those who have more recently come home or are still overseas.

Tim Laidler's Remembrance Day began, as it so often has since his return from Afghanistan in 2008, with a media interview, followed up by a moment of silence for the friends and colleagues he lost to war.

At 26, Laidler has become something of a spokesman for combat veterans in British Columbia. His rocky transition back into a civilian career after an eight-month posting with the Canadian Forces in Kandahar serves as a cautionary tale to those who have more recently come home or are still overseas.