For Patients

PROTECT YOUR HEALTH

Tips to protect your health

  1. Keep up with regular health appointments, testing, screenings, and vaccinations.
  2. Eat healthy by having fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and low- or no-fat dairy.
  3. Get enough sleep.
  4. Move more and sit less.
  5. Limit alcohol intake.
  6. Avoid illegal drugs and using prescription drugs in ways other than prescribed.
  7. Avoid smoking, vaping, and the use of other tobacco products.

World Health Organization (WHO)

Be Informed About Your Own Health – Access Your Health Records

BC’s Health Gateway provides secure and convenient access to your health records and is available to anyone in BC 12 years of age and older.

See your medication history, view lab test results, list of hospital visits and medical imaging reports, as well as immunization records.  Available via your BC Services Card account on desktop of the BC Services Card app.

Public Health & Disease Prevention

We are dedicated to the prevention and management of a variety of public health illnesses and communicable diseases through education, information, immunization and screening. Access to these services is through the BC Get Vaccinated system.

This upper respiratory infection is caused by the influenza virus and spreads easily from person to person through coughing, sneezing or face to face contact. Although symptoms are similar to the common cold, symptoms caused by the flu tend to be more severe and last longer (7-10 days). The flu is not always a harmless illness. It can cause serious health risks including death. A person with flu is also at risk of other infections, such as bacterial or viral pneumonia (an infection of the lungs). Every year, about 1,400 people in BC die from the flu and complications of this, such as pneumonia.

The peak of the flu season is traditionally November to April.

Your best protection from getting and transmitting influenza is the flu vaccine, recommended for everyone over the age of 6 months.

You can access free vaccination through your local health unit, pharmacist or your family doctor.

To find a flu clinic near you, please register and book through the Get Vaccinated System or call 1-833-838-2323 (toll free).

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness with symptoms that can feel much like a cold, the flu, or pneumonia. COVID-19 may attack more than your lungs and respiratory system.  Other parts of your body may also be affected. While most people with COVID-19 have mild symptoms, some people become severely ill.

The best protection from getting and transmitting COVID-19 is the COVID-19 vaccine. It is recommended that previously vaccinated individuals get one dose per year. Those at increased risk of severe illness should receive two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per year.

The COVID-19 vaccine is free and available to everyone 6 months of age and older.

To get your flue and COVID-19 immunizations, please register and book through the Get Vaccinated System or call 1-833-838-2323 (toll free)

Screening Saves Lives

BC Cancer has four province-wide screening programs for breast, cervical, colon and lung cancer. ​Screening is for those without symptoms. It can prevent cancer or help catch it in its earliest stages, allowing more treatment options and a better chance of recovery.

Anyone with a cervix, including women and TTGD (Two-Spirit, transgender and gender diverse) people, between the ages of 25 and 69, should be screened for cervical cancer every three to five years. The test is free and only takes a few minutes of your time.

You can now choose how you’d like to screen for cervical cancer: Cervix self-screening at home or at a health care provider’s office, or a Pap test with a health care provider.

Request a free cervix self-screening kit online using the Kit Order Code from your screening letter or call 1-877-702-6566.

Don’t have a Kit Order Code? Fill out a kit request form.

At home colorectal screening FIT test – also through BC Cancer

Colon cancer is one of the most diagnosed forms of cancer and in the early stages there are often no symptoms. That is why screening is so important. The at home colorectal screening FIT test is a screening for colon cancer that can detect signs of pre-cancer and can be done in the comfort of your own home.

Find out more

Regular breast cancer screening is an important part of a health routine. Here in BC, we have some of the best survival outcomes in Canada for those who do get breast cancer. This success is largely due to improved cancer treatments and participation in breast cancer screening.

Obtaining a regular mammogram is a key component of early detection – regular breast cancer screening can find cancer when it is small, which means:

  • there may be more treatment options
  • it is less likely to spread
  • there is a better chance of treating cancer successfully

The risk of breast cancer increases as you get older; over 80% of breast cancers in BC are found in women 50 years and older. Women ages 40-74 may self-refer to the program; however, it is recommended that by age 50, average-risk women have a screening mammogram every two years. Women are not eligible for a screening mammogram in BC if they have had breast cancer or breast implants, or if they currently have breast symptoms requiring a diagnostic investigation. These patients must speak with their health care provider and may be referred for a diagnostic mammogram.

Lung cancer is one of the most diagnosed cancers, and the leading cause of cancer death in BC. Early detection through screening can help find cancer in its early stages, when treatment is more successful. Lung screening is best for those who are at high-risk for lung cancer and who are not experiencing any symptoms. Please call us if you are 55 to 74 years of age and/or have a significant history of regularly smoking commercial tobacco (cigarettes, cigars, etc.), currently or in the past.

During a 5-to-10-minute phone conversation, a Lung Screening Program navigator will ask you questions about your smoking and health history. Your answers to these questions will help determine your lung cancer risk and whether screening is right for you.

If you think you qualify for screening, please call the Lung Screening Program at: 1-877-717-5864.

Mental Health & Substance Use

Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Mental health is health, is important at every stage of life and often requires different types of supports.

Suicide Prevention 1-800–SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433)

Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868

Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868

Foundry BC – Young people and their caregivers living anywhere across BC can access all services available at Foundry centres or via the Foundry Virtual BC app. Access virtual counselling appointments, youth and family peer support, join a youth group or a caregiver group, or browse a library of tools and resources.

For more information or to download the app, please click here

Community Mental Health & Substance Use Program: The Mental Health & Substance Use community programs offer services that include a combination of functions with interprofessional teams, as well as some specialty services, i.e. Developmental Disabilities Mental Health (DDMH), Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), etc. Youth addictions counselling and referral, elderly services counselling, early psychosis, eating disorders, vocational and recreation rehabilitation is also available at most community programs.

Community programs provide assessment, treatment, and referrals for adults.

The Mental Health & Substance Use community programs address, phone number and hours

HelpStartsHere: BC offers numerous online resources related to mental health, mental illness, addictions, depression, counselling, and wellness through the HelpStartsHere portal.

The Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division: Provides mental health and substance use information you can trust. Find information and connect to key resources in BC to take care of your mental health and use substances in healthier ways or learn how to support a loved one. Visit the website.