A flurry of health-related programs and funding graced our city in recent days.

Part of $50 million that will be spread around the province over the next three years, in Kamloops, it translates into health-care workers making an immediate difference.

Two respiratory therapists will work with patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition that is on the rise within the Interior Health region.

Four full-time equivalent positions, including social workers, a nurse and life-skills worker, are slated for the King Street Clinic, a health centre that helps people with mental health issues and addictions find the medical help they need.

An occupational therapist, physiotherapist, two part-time rehab assistants and a full-time RN have been hired under the Home First program to help seniors with complex care needs avoid hospitalization or residential care.

Unrelated to the new provincial funding, we had an update on two other health-care initiatives ongoing here — the new dialysis unit on the North Shore that is to open this summer will bring eight new stations where kidney patients can have dialysis done.

We also got an update on another program called Better at Home in B.C., which is run by Seniors Outreach Society, a non-profit. It aims to help seniors live at home longer by providing non-medical services such as housekeeping, yard work, snow removal and grocery shopping.

And last but not least, Mastermind Studios gave birth to its own baby, a video the company produced for free showing why Kamloops is a desirable place to live, with the goal of drawing new doctors here. It’s part of Venture Kamloops’ Red Carpet physician recruitment program.

With an estimated 15,000 Kamloops residents lacking a family doc, many will be crossing their fingers the latter initiative pays off, but the other programs and new jobs are no less important. Ask a renal patient about the convenience another location will offer, a senior who now can find help with some home repairs or a COPD patient how much better life is since learning how to manage shortness of breath and coughing.

It’s not funding for more health-care administrators, but on-the-ground workers who help real people, something we’d like to see more of.