Nanaimo Public Health

10/31/2025

Enjoy your Halloween treats and keep your smile healthy too!

Here’s how:
- Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
- Spit, don’t rinse. After brushing, spit out the toothpaste but wait 10 to 30 minutes before rinsing, so the fluoride can keep working.
- Have treats with meals. Eating sweets as part of a meal is better than snacking all day. Teeth need breaks to recover.
- Drink plain water after eating. It helps rinse away sugar and acid.

Find more simple tips at: https://ow.ly/frZB50XkyrQ

10/21/2025

Check out this incredible new resource for families!

Are you a new or soon-to-be parent or caregiver?

The Pregnancy & Parent Learning Centre is now live and available to you!

Perinatal Services BC launched this online prenatal learning platform to help parents and caregivers feel confident and prepared during their pregnancy, birth and parenting journey.

Start your learning journey today by visiting learningcentre.perinatalservicesbc.ca

10/03/2025

10/03/2025

09/29/2025

Autumn is here! Here is the October Healthy Beginnings schedule! 🍂🍂

09/16/2025

The HPV immunization program expanded this summer, offering the vaccine at no cost to more people. This cancer-preventing vaccine is now free for all people ages 9 to 26, plus people 27 to 45 who are living with HIV or who self-identify as belonging to the gay, bisexual, questioning, Two-Spirit, transgender and non-binary communities.
School-aged children are routinely offered the vaccine in grade 6. The vaccine is also available at some pharmacies and through public health units!

09/16/2025

09/16/2025

Parenting Learning Groups are still open for registration! Register now to learn more about being the parent that you want to be.

Want to upskill your parenting? Struggling with behaviours at home? These in-person, no-cost, positive parenting seminars are available to all parents and guardians in the community 🤩 More questions? Want to sign up? The phone number to book is in the photo under "Contact Name & Number"!

More details:
Seminars: Provides an overview of positive parenting basics for anyone interested. Parents learn how to use positive parenting to encourage children to develop the skills they need for well being. Can be taken as a series or as a one of. Anyone can attend, no restrictions.

Group: An 8 week course for parents/caregivers of children 2-12 years old. This course helps families deal with almost any situation that might come up, in ways that are best suited to their own family. Learn why children behave as they do and 17 strategies to support the values, skills and behaviours you want to encourage. Must have unsupervised access to child 18 months+ to 12 years.

09/15/2025

09/02/2025

Vancouver Coastal Health is notifying people who dined at Sea Monkey Coffee — located onsite at Sunday Cider in Gibsons (1632 Sunshine Coast Hwy.) — about a possible exposure to hepatitis A from Aug. 1 to 25 inclusive.

Note: this notification is only for people who dined at Sea Monkey Coffee on the noted dates. It is not intended for customers of any other business at the address, including Sunday Cider, or for people who dined at Sea Monkey Coffee outside these dates. People who consumed only drinks from this venue are also not at risk of exposure.

Symptoms of hepatitis A include:

• Feeling very tired
• Feeling sick to your stomach and not feeling hungry
• Losing weight without trying
• Pain on the right side of the belly, under the rib cage (where your liver is)
• Fever
• Sore muscles
• Yellow skin and eyes (jaundice), dark urine, and clay-coloured stools

Getting immunized with one dose of hepatitis A vaccine can help to prevent infection if given within two weeks of exposure. Therefore, VCH recommends anyone who dined at Sea Monkey Coffee from Aug. 14 to 25 receive a hepatitis A vaccine as soon as possible.

A free dose of hepatitis A vaccine is available for those who are eligible at clinics and pharmacies throughout the VCH region.

A current list of locations — as well as information about causes, tests, treatments and prevention — can be found at https://www.vch.ca/en/health-topics/hepatitis-a.

08/29/2025

Back-to-school ready? Make sure your child’s vaccines are, too.

Take a few minutes to:

- Review the recommended vaccines for their age
- Check their immunization records
- Book any needed vaccines through a public health unit, doctor, or pharmacist

A simple step today helps protect your child and their classmates.

Check vaccines before school starts: islandhealth.ca/immunizations