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Powell River environmental health officer moves to Squamish

Inspector and instructor Dan Glover accepts job offer and promotion within Vancouver Coastal Health
Dan Glover
NEXT CHAPTER: After a 25-year career as the community’s environmental health officer, Dan Glover is moving away to assume a new position with Vancouver Coastal Health. Contributed photo

After more than 25 years as Powell River’s environmental health officer, Dan Glover, and his wife Caroline are moving to Squamish. Before moving to town in the early 1990s, Glover was not familiar with the community.

“I grew up in Ontario and I lived in the Lower Mainland and Dawson Creek before coming here.”

Dan oversaw everything to do with public health protection for the region, from food and health inspections to ensuring the region’s recreational and drinking water safety.

“We have over 130 water supply systems,” said Dan. “It covers everything from Saltery Bay to Toba Inlet.”

Over the years the job has also entailed keeping people knowledgeable about best practices when preparing and serving food.

“I’ve taught hundreds of FoodSafe courses,” he said, “and taught at the university and privately as well.”

Caroline worked as a nurse in Powell River and was a member of the home-health nursing team at VCH for many years. The couple will be moving to Squamish, where Dan has accepted a promotion with VCH, but the decision to leave town was not taken lightly, said Dan.

“It’s bittersweet,” he added. “An opportunity came up and we decided to jump at it.”

Dan said he and Caroline intend to return to Powell River often as they have many friends here. He added that the community has changed a lot in the past few years and he will be watching with interest as it continues to grow.

“It’s exciting right now. You see a lot of new people moving to town, younger people,” he said. “There’s an energy here. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.”

For now, Dan and Caroline are saying their goodbyes and preparing for the next chapter in their lives.

“After almost 26 years,” he said, “we have a bit of packing to do.”