See the Media Release for more details about the awards.

Rural Coordination Centre of BC honours the Nisga’a Valley Health Authority, Campbell River/Tsay Keh Dene/Kwadacha’s Dr. Jeff Beselt, Osoyoos’s Dr. Garnett Tarr, Sechelt’s Dr. Karen Forgie and Duncan/Powell River’s Dr. Bruce Hobson. Chetwynd’s Yonabeth Nava de Escalante is honoured with the Resident Leadership Award. 

2025 Winners:

Rural BC Community Award—Nisga’a Valley Health Authority

The Rural BC Community Award is being presented to The Nisga’a Valley Health Authority (NVHA) for its innovative work in developing regionally-based solutions addressing local healthcare needs.

The NVHA is a community-led health authority serving the needs of the four communities within Nisga’a Valley—Gitlaxt’aamiks, Gitwinksihlkw, Laxgalts’ap, and Gingolx—as well as outreach services to support Nisga’a Nation members living away from home. Over the past five years, NVHA and community partners have made great strides to improve services and ensure they continue to evolve with the needs of the communities.

From establishing full-scope rural primary and emergency care, to creating a comprehensive interdisciplinary team of allied health services including traditional wellness workers, NVHA is ensuring that community members have access to the care they need.

NVHA services have expanded greatly from 2020 to now. A primary achievement for NVHA has been the successful recruitment and retention of physicians integrated into the community. With all physician services filled, there are regular clinics in each of the four communities, and there is 24/7/365 coverage of emergency and on-call services. This contrasts with previous periods, where there used to be sporadic locum coverage. They went from 29 individual physicians providing services to fill four full-time positions, to, in 2024, 14 physicians filling five and a half full-time positions. This achievement has enhanced continuity of care and is contributing to increased trust in health services among the community.

In addition to physician recruitment and retention, NVHA, through partnership with the Pacific Northwest Divisions of Family Practice, Kitselas Nation, Kitsumkalum Nation, Tahltan Nation, and Northern Health, worked on the co-creation of the Coast Mountain Primary Care Network. Through this, they have recruited: a full-time occupational therapist, a kinesiologist, and a dietician for Nisga’a Valley communities.

They also tackled an issue that was investigated at the community level. In community consultations, there was significant concern about early deaths and morbidity from heart attacks and strokes and a QI (quality improvement) initiative found that over 40% of adults in Nisga’a Valley had metabolic syndrome, a group of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. One Nisga’a Elder relayed her experience participating in the CHANGE program in another province to address her metabolic syndrome. In response, the NVHA partnered with Metabolic Syndrome Canada to become the first pilot site in BC for the CHANGE BC program which is a one-year longitudinal program for patients with metabolic syndrome. Patients get weekly access to both a kinesiologist and a dietician so they can be supported through long-term lifestyle change.

Dr. Christie Chan, Medical Director at NVHA, said: “All of this progress has only been made possible because of partnerships we’ve made in the region.”

Another area of innovation and improvement in the Nisga’a Valley has been the creation of a local emergency medical transport (EMT) team. Dr. Chan said it had changed lives. “This was a project that was born out of necessity because BCEHS had been struggling in the region to recruit enough crews,” she explained. “Because of that, we were seeing extremely lengthy wait times, 12, 24 hours-plus to medevac patients to a higher level of care. So we partnered with BC to train emergency medical responders locally in the community and to create a Nisga’a EMT team, so that people here could have, timely emergency medical transport to a higher level of care.”

Corinne McKay, Chief Executive Officer of the NVHA, said it was gratifying to see the significant improvement in health services. She added: “We have a population that is still affected by the issues encountered in residential schools. And it’s not just those individuals; it’s the generational trauma. And we know that there is more that we can do. And from where I am in the organization, I know that there’s great potential to do more.

“We are grateful for the amazing work that’s been done to support those that are meeting treatment, those that are needing support.

“We have a land-based healing program where we’re trying to support those that want to learn about the ways that we process foods, the ways that we prepared our traditional clothing, the ways that we gathered food. So there’s amazing work being done by employees that are very committed to the work. It’s exciting to see the many different offerings.”

In addition to the Nisga’a Valley Health Authority’s achievements, we also recognize the five other nominated communities this year including Duncan, Creston, The Discovery Islands, Stellat’en First Nation, North Vancouver Island Region—including Kwakiutl, ʼNa̱mǥis, Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw and Quatsino First Nations, Port Alice, Alert Bay, Port McNeill and Port Hardy. The communities are being recognized for their work in improving health outcomes through local initiatives and innovations, and RCCbc looks forward to featuring these communities in the coming months.

Award of Excellence in Rural Medicine—Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Jeff Beselt

A dedicated and compassionate family doctor, Dr. Jeff Beselt, is being honoured for his care and his tireless advocacy for the northern communities of Kwadacha and Tsay Keh Dene.

Beloved in the northeastern First Nations communities, Dr. Beselt has maintained a presence there for over 20 years. He is a trusted caregiver who never hesitates to take the time needed with patients while in the community so they feel supported and safe.

Both Kwadacha and Tsay Keh Dene are approximately a 10-hour drive along a logging road to the closest Northern Health facility. Flights in and out of the community are often cancelled or delayed due to weather. Having consistent physician support from Dr. Beselt has allowed community members to receive the care they need and deserve closer to home.

Rebecca Tallman, the Health Director in the area, said: “At any given time, you can ask Jeff about a patient, and he can recall their entire familial and medical history. He spends time with each of his patients and understands the cultural and historical factors that contribute to their way of life. Jeff understands the unique histories of Kwadacha and Tsay Keh Dene, and that a mistrust of the outside world exists due to colonization, land dispossession, and lasting impacts of trauma. This is evident through his humility and commitment to cultural safety.”

Dr. Beselt has worked tirelessly at provincial and federal levels bringing attention to barriers faced by remote communities in accessing higher levels of care by air ambulance or other patient transport. He is a member of the Rural Coordination Centre of BC’s transport group and has a leadership role with the First Nations Health Authority. He has also been co-lead of the Real-Time Virtual Support peer pathway RUDi—an acronym for Rural Urgent Doctor in-aid—for the past five years. It is not just Kwadacha and Tsay Keh he is advocating for at these tables—he cares about all remote communities. He does this because he has witnessed firsthand the impact of someone not getting the help they need.

Ms Tallman shares: “I recall one incident that was very serious and there was no specialized team available to attend the medevac.”

At the time, Dr. Beselt was in Campbell River at his family home. When an air ambulance can’t get to Kwadacha or Tsay Keh Dene, a military flight out of Comox can sometimes step in. “Without hesitation, Jeff hopped on the Cormorant and took the 12-hour flight into Kwadacha,” Ms Tallman continued. “It was before we had lights on our runway and the community lined the landing pad with vehicles so the military could safely land in Kwadacha. The doors opened and out came Jeff ready to support the young mother and her infant to get safely to Prince George for care. I can’t think of a better example of Jeff’s commitment to supporting rural and remote primary care than showing up when it matters most and understanding the importance of a familiar face to help you navigate a very stressful situation.”

The dedication and compassion shown by Dr. Beselt has had a profound impact on the health and well-being of these communities. His presence has not only improved access to medical care but also strengthened the capacity of the local healthcare system.

Dr. Beselt said he was both honoured and uncomfortable being recognized. But he added that he hopes his work inspires others to do the type of care he does. He explained: “I grew up in a bunch of small towns, and I was always interested in rural healthcare, but to be honest, I didn’t really know what it meant. And when I finished my training in Prince George, I had the opportunity to go work in Tsay Keh Dene. It changed everything for me. I didn’t realize that true generalist medicine existed in the way that it did.”

“That experience has kind of changed my entire career, and it’s the part of medicine I love the most. I love doing home visits on the back of a snowmobile. I love being welcomed into somebody’s house that I’ve known for many years. And, you know, you just get to see the real part of people’s lives.”

He added: “I love when people share with me and ask how I’m doing and how my family’s doing. I love when people share their language with me. It’s also really hard. And allowed me to grow a lot. It’s impacted my family, my kids. It’s allowed us to live in remote First Nations communities, and for my kids to attend First Nations schools and to learn and have experiences they wouldn’t have had in any other way.”

Award of Excellence in Rural Medicine—Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Bruce Hobson

A doctor who has made tremendous contributions to support engagement and collaboration across health systems in rural BC is being honoured for his lengthy and impactful career.

In addition to his 37-year full-service family practice career in Powell River, Dr. Bruce Hobson has been a key member of the Medical Leadership at UBC’s Division of Continuing Professional Development (UBC CPD) serving in various roles across the Division since 2012.

Dr. Hobson is deeply connected with Powell River, where his dad was a general surgeon. He decided to follow his father’s footsteps into medicine and, after medical school, set up a family practice in the community. His career interest in education and leadership led him to get involved with UBC CPD. This includes membership on Scientific Planning Committees to develop education on many topics including adverse childhood experiences, chronic disease, chronic pain, mental health and substance use, team-based care, WorkSafe BC and more.

Dr. Hobson is also a part of the editorial board for the very popular blog This Changed My Practice (TCMP). TCMP is viewed as an essential physician resource.

Dr. Hobson, who now lives in Duncan, has also served as the Director of Program Standards at UBC CPD since 2018. In this role, he oversees the review of approximately 250 external accreditation applications annually, supporting organizations across the province to deliver high quality CPD in their regions.

From 2018 to present, Dr. Hobson has served as Senior Medical Lead on the Rural Coaching and Mentoring Program (CAMP), an initiative that fosters peer connections to improve practice, increase confidence, and build rural connections. In 2024, thanks to Dr. Hobson’s leadership, the program supported 130+ participants with over 760 hours of coaching and mentoring support.

“What the numbers don’t show, is the countless hours of work put in over many years to building relationships, breaking down silos, and changing the culture of asking for help in medicine,” wrote the UBC CPD leadership in his nomination letter.

In addition, his work in developing the Health Data Coalition (HDC), a non-profit organization funded by the Family Practice Services Committee (FPSC), led to a physician-led data-sharing application that enables collaborative quality improvement in primary care over the past 10 years.

“Dr. Hobson’s lifetime dedication to rural healthcare, paired with his passion for peer support and transformative education, exemplifies the criteria for this prestigious award. His enduring contributions have left a profound legacy, inspiring his colleagues and advancing patient care through BC rural communities,” wrote Dr. Cecile Andreas in her nomination letter.

On being a rural doctor in a rural community, Dr. Hobson said: “You name it, we did it.”

He added that one of the things that he valued most about the experience was his connection to his community and the ability to have his three kids grow up not only under the care of him and his wife, but also under the care of his parents, his in-laws and the wider community.

“It kept us busy,” Dr. Hobson said. “So not only practicing medicine, but I was a softball coach, a baseball coach, a soccer coach, for my kids, the ones that would let me coach them. And I really enjoyed having that part of my life. I always say, when people talk about work-life balance, I say, well, in a rural community, there’s no such thing as a balance, a separation between life and work. You are what you do, and you do what you are,” Dr. Hobson recounted.

On his leadership roles, Dr. Hobson said he fell into it almost by accident. He said that his interest in education led him to become a trainer with the practice support program. “And that really cemented in my mind the direction that I wanted to take in refocusing my career from active practice to really being involved in more educational design and delivery, to being involved in peer mentorship and support and coaching and all those things have been things that I’ve developed over the last number of years,” he said. “Those are the things that have got me up in the morning and made me excited and, really given me that sense that, my purpose is in being able to help others learn and be able to help others, be more satisfied and, achieve what they want to achieve with their goals and in their practice.”

Award of Excellence in Rural Medicine—Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Garnett Tarr

A family doctor who is a respected and effective leader at the South Okanagan General Hospital is being honoured for his leadership and mentorship of others.

Dr Garnett Tarr is the Chief of Staff at the hospital in Oliver where he actively takes on medical learners, providing them with enriching educational experiences. In his spare time, Dr. Tarr is also known for his love of animals, saving baby deer and spending his weekends bathing the chickens on his farm.

In his Chief of Staff role, Dr. Tarr ensures that professional standards of practice are upheld across the facility. His leadership has significantly contributed to the creation of a healthy and efficient healthcare system. Additionally, he plays an active role in collaborating with the Division of Family Practice, advocating for positive changes that benefit Osoyoos, where he has a practice, and the patients and providers in neighbouring communities.

“Dr. Tarr’s influence extends beyond his own practice,” said Dr. Kirk Dixon in his nomination letter. “He is deeply committed to the growth and development of his colleagues in the rural communities of Oliver and Osoyoos. He provides invaluable mentorship, guidance, and support. He is very approachable and maintains an open mind for both his patients and colleagues. He exemplifies a patient-centred approach to care.”

Through his hard work, experience, and leadership, Dr. Tarr has made a lasting impact on primary healthcare in the rural communities he supports.

Dr. Tarr said: “One of the most rewarding aspects of being in healthcare and being rural, as far as I’m concerned, is that every year UBC can send me anywhere upwards of, three to four Residents. But to say that I have mentored them on everything…. I think they might have mentored me on a few things. I always tell them I’ve learned as much from them as they might have learned from me. I think it’s a great experience. They keep you practicing young, they come with new ideas, new knowledge. Usually at the end of every day we’ll have a 30-minute session where we just sit and sort of rehash the day’s cases they’ve seen, and then often life in general. “They’ll sometimes tell you, I’ll go in a bit of a rant, but I think it’s most probably one of the things I’d encourage any physician once they’ve found their feet to do. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

On the future of rural medicine, Dr. Tarr said: “We need a broad breadth of knowledge. It’s hard to have a niche practice in a rural community. And I think I would like to see that aspect of medicine bolstered as trainers sniff out the students who might be interested in rural medicine. They could be paired with mentors and not necessarily full practicing mentors. Sometimes it might be people like myself who are coming up to that point of retirement, but still have the capacity to be a mentor to a young student. That can make an enormous difference.”

Award of Excellence in Rural Medicine—Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Karen Forgie

A rural doctor who has made outstanding contributions to family medicine to improve the health care of British Columbians throughout her career is being recognized.

Dr. Karen Forgie is a medical leader based in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast, where she worked as a family doctor from 1993 to 2022.  She continues to be a staunch advocate  for change, for both patients and family doctors in the province.

In her home community of Sechelt, she has been an active participant in medical affairs— for example, coordinating and recruiting consultant specialists to provide remote clinics to rural patients, saving patients the time, cost and stress of travel. At the provincial level, Dr. Forgie was elected to the role of President of BC Family Doctors (BCFD). This was during a momentous time as the organization transitioned from being known as the Section of General Practitioners (SGP) to BC Family Doctors. This also culminated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia acknowledging family physicians as specialists in primary care—a recognition that Dr. Forgie advocated for decades.

She is the chair of the BCFD economics committee and is leading another momentous task: modernization of the entire family practice fee-for-service payment schedule. She was also a representative on the Worksafe BC negotiating committee and helped create updated forms and processes that reflect the workflows of actual family physicians in practice. She created and led billing education sessions on LFP and will do similar for the upcoming fee-for-service work.

More recently, she has been involved with the Health Data Coalition committee which is working hard to embed quality improvement in family physician practices utilizing their EMRs. This work is essential to improve clinical care outcomes and physician satisfaction. Her ability to share this message as small community physician is crucial so that other rural physicians can see themselves expand into quality improvement work.

Dr. Tahmeena Ali, chair of BCFD, had high praise for Dr. Forgie. She said: “Dr. Karen Forgie has been a positive and influential force in the British Columbian family medicine landscape for decades.”

Her role at the provincial level has not stopped her from continuing to advocate for her community of Sechelt. She was able to assist with recruiting new physicians to the area, helping to ensure the stability of care for patients there.

Drs Jennifer and Julie Baxter, family physicians in Sechelt, said before Dr. Forgie retired from family practice in 2022, she was a role model for colleagues. “She modeled comprehensive longitudinal primary care, ensuring her patient’s needs are met in the community, in their homes, and when needed, in the hospital and Long-Term care settings.”

They wrote: “Dr. Forgie is a force to be reckoned with. Her heart and soul have been poured into her work over the course of her impressive career. When she sees inequity and injustice, she is a powerful voice and advocate for change. Always acting from a place of respect and deep care, Dr Forgie has been a role model for her colleagues for decades.”

Dr Forgie said that she would urge other rural doctors to join organizations where they can advocate for change. She said: “I realized, as time has gone on, that I do have some input, some knowledge, and some skills that I can share.

“One of the biggest things that I would recommend to my colleagues is that they need to find a little place where they can lead. Because their interests, their knowledge is valuable. And we need more and more physicians in leadership roles at the community level, at an organizational level, and all the way up to a government level, to be able to improve the health care of all of our communities.”

Resident Leadership Award—Dr. Yonabeth Nava de Escalante

A first-year resident at the Chetwynd Rural Immersion Site is being recognized for her contributions with a Resident Leadership Award.

Dr. Yonabeth Nava de Escalante is one of the first residents to take part in UBC’s novel training program for family practice residency. Accordingly, she is immersed in full-time rural practice, with academic support from the Prince George & Northern Rural team at the University Hospital in Prince George.

Participation alone in this novel stream requires leadership and self-direction—above that of typical residency training—as a pioneer to establish and refine a new approach to post-graduate medical education.

Nominating her, Chetwynd physician Dr. Bron Finkelstein, who also co-leads the Rural Immersion Program, said: “She consistently seeks quality improvement and has initiated several Quality Improvement (QI) endeavors in our community. Most notably, she identified pain as a barrier to IUD uptake in our patients and began a QI project using topical anesthetic. This is now expanding into her Scholar Project and has garnered regional research participation throughout the South Peace.”

Since beginning residency, Dr. Nava de Escalante has demonstrated clear and consistent leadership qualities. She has a strong work ethic, embodying professionalism and academic excellence while demonstrating commitment to her patients and community. In her nomination letter, Hilary Therrien, from the UBC Family Medicine Residency Program, said: “What sets Dr. Nava apart from the other family medicine residents is her leadership and initiative. She has expressed interest in joining several committees to help bring change where it’s needed. Change that would benefit all residents, not just herself. She is always pleasant when communicating and she always expresses how grateful she is to have us as admin staff.”

See the Media Release for more details about the awards.

Contact:
Heiko Decosas, Communications Lead, Rural Coordination Centre of BC

T: 778-558-6192 (direct) E: [email protected]

Rebecca Connop Price, Communications Officer, Rural Coordination Centre of BC

T: 604-558-7650 (direct)  E: [email protected]

About the Rural Coordination Centre of BC

Led by rural doctors, the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) is a network that works to improve the health of people and their communities in rural BC. Funded primarily by the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues, our network partners include healthcare providers and administrators, community members, policymakers, educators, researchers, and non-profit and business leaders. We serve all rural, remote and Indigenous communities in BC covered by