January 17, 2001 For Immediate Release

The University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) will be making an announcement tomorrow, January 18th, at the National Health Summit in Prince George. The announcement concerns the training of health professionals.

UNBC President Dr Charles Jago is scheduled to address the National Health Summit delegates at 2:30pm and will be joined by Dr Barry McBride, the Vice-President Academic of UBC. The presentation to the Summit delegates is open to the media.

Prior to the Summit presentation, Drs McBride and Jago will be available for a teleconference with media in Prince George Civic Centre Room 202, starting at 1:30pm. During this teleconference, they will outline the announcement and respond to questions. Any media are welcome to participate by calling:

1-877-452-1211 (password 4620#)
The teleconference will begin at 1:30pm and continue for no longer than one hour.

At 1:15, the news release and supplementary materials regarding the announcement will be available on UNBC's web site at www.unbc.ca. It's suggested that media who will be participating in the teleconference refer to the web site for information; the news release will only be faxed out later in the afternoon.

The National Health Summit is being presented by the City of Prince George and the North-Central Municipal Association (an organization that represents communities from 100 Mile House to the Yukon border.). More than 400 delegates from across the country will be attending this event, where elected and non-elected community leaders, health professionals, and educators will work together to develop an action plan that will work towards ensuring adequate health care service in remote, rural, and northern communities across Canada. For more information about the Summit, please refer to the Summit web site at www.city.pg.bc.ca/healthsummit or call 961-5985.