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It’s like winning the lotto to find a family doctor out here. You can sign up online to be notified when one is available but I have friends who have lived here for 5+ years and have never found a doctor. Daycares you have to apply anywhere and everywhere, some day cares have multiple year long wait lists. Our friends applied for their first born was 4 month into pregnancy and their second born took that spot because their first aged out of the daycare before they got a spot.
We recently made the move in the other direction and I miss Victoria terribly. It took us 7 years to get a doctor there. Make sure to get on the Health Registry Connect list, but you'll also need to seek out independent practices. Daycare is extremely difficult to find. I applied for tons of them when I was 9 weeks pregnant and didn't have a spot when we left (my son was 20 months). We used a nanny share. There aren't many of the same options (not a lot of registered home daycares) and unlicensed daycare have a maximum capacity of 2 unrelated (to the provider) children. We had a nanny for a while ($24/hour) and participated in a nanny share ($15/hour) but a nanny share really only works when you're only looking for care for one child. Both of those things are very difficult to find in BC, but I am incredibly jealous and wish I was moving back there.
I found a dr super quickly. Had a walk in clinic next to my apartment, walked in, asked her if she was looking for patients, she asked me what I did for work and what my education was, any health problems, she figured she’ll see me only on rare sick occasions, so she said okay I’m your dr now. She was very status driven and I think many clinics in BC are like that considering the homeless population (maybe? That’s my opinion at least), but it was for sure very quick for me. Same thing happened to my sister, one year in and she found a dr the same way
If it's that difficult to get a doctor, so how would my baby get all vaccines? Does walk in clinic do that?
Public health nurses administer and follow up on vaccines.
I lived in nanaimo for many years, and it was almost impossible to get a family doctor, I'd look on find a doctor and start calling. Sorry not sure about daycare, didn't have my kid until after we moved off the island.