Recently Johnson & Johnson recalled some over the counter drugs that are common place in many people’s medicine cabinets.

This is the second time the company has done so in less than a month, this time because of a mouldy smell that has made people taking the medication sick.

These drugs were actually contaminated by a chemical used to treat wood on the pallets used to transport the raw ingredients of the drugs to the manufacturing plant.

The recall applies to some batches of Tylenol caplets and gel tabs.

Some Tylenol arthritis treatments, both rapid release and extended relief. Motrin IB, chewable extra-strength Rolaids, Benadryl allergy tablets and St. Joseph aspirin.

The symptoms that led to an investigation of the poisonings were very common symptoms for other ailments, such as vomiting, diarrhea and cramping.

Many patients showed up at the emergency room only to be told it was nothing to worry about.

Some people told me about their experience, where the tainted products they took ultimately resulted in a ride in the ambulance to the hospital.

Yes, pharmaceuticals do have there place in the medical world, but pills do have a tendency to be over-prescribed.

And dealing in the volumes that pharmaceutical companies manufacture of different products, it seems at least once a year recall notices are publicized.

Sometimes the potential for a recall is known about before the drug leaves the manufacturing facility, but it still leaves the plant because the cost of recalling or stopping production on a particular medication is more than what any lawsuit potentially might cost the company.

I don’t suggest you forego any prescriptions or over the counter medications that you choose to take, just realize that their are other alternatives out there.

Homeopathic remedies, for example, can offer many effective alternatives to drugs commonly used everyday whether prescription or OTC.

There is a Health Canada website— www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/compli-conform/recall-retrait/_list/index-eng.php or http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/alpha-eng.php— where you can view a list of recalled drugs and medical devices.

It may be a month or so behind, but it does offer some eye opening information.

It is interesting to note that there are literally thousands of products that have been recalled because of safety concerns for the user.

This also includes herbal products and imported foods that have been contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides at their countries of origin, such as China and India.

It is absolutely impossible to inspect every piece of cargo, food or drug that comes in or goes out of our country. For that reason alone, drug recalls will occur.

As I always say, educate yourself and keep on top of these things yourself. Go to the websites I listed above and start searching.

John Sherman is a professional homeopath in Kelowna.

250-764-2487

Cedarlake "at" telus.net

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_fpa-ape_2009/2009-213-eng.php

A New Brunswick woman says she has no choice but to legally separate from her husband because she can't afford to pay for his nursing home care.

Judy MacKenzie, 66, says leaving her husband, Alton, just so he can qualify for lower care costs is not what she envisioned after 45 years of marriage.

'I think it's devastating that I have to, but there's no other way.'
—Judy MacKenzieBut the Department of Social Development decides how much clients pay for care based on their combined family income. And for MacKenzie, the cost is simply too high.

"I think it's devastating that I have to, but there's no other way," she said about separating from her husband, Alton.

In 2003, he had at least two strokes and has had to be cared for in a Miramichi nursing home ever since.

Judy MacKenzie, who now lives in Fredericton, says the bill for his care is about $2,500 a month and the government wants her to pay about $700 of that.

"It's just not realistic," she said. "It's just too much. I couldn't live the way I am living now, which is just ordinary living. I don't do anything special or anything."

After paying her rent, car payment and power bill, MacKenzie said she's left with less than $500 a month to cover groceries, prescriptions, gas and insurance.

The only way to pay less for her husband's care is to get a legal separation, she said.

So on Friday, he signed the papers to begin the process. Once it goes through, the cost of his care will be based solely on his income.

MacKenzie says it's not the best solution, but believes it's the only one now that she's living paycheque to paycheque.

"Alton's good about it," she says. "He knows it's not going to change anything about me visiting him or anything like that — I'm not that type of person.

"But you know it is quite a sad thing…. The lawyer even thought it was. She even teared up, you know, to think."

The Department of Social Development won't comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson said the government offers financial assistance to clients who struggle to pay for care.

4. Regional Parks Services

4.1 Douglas Fir Tussock Moth Update - Forested Crown & Private Lands in the Central Okanagan

In follow-up to the August 13th Governance and Services Committee meeting staff were asked to report back whether there is a role for the Regional District to work with the Ministry of Forests on local infestation of the moth as well as whether there
is an issue with regional properties that need to be addressed. Staff reviewed the areas of concern within the Regional District and the role of the District including talking to Interior Health.

Staff report dated August 25th outlined the areas of known infestation in the region.

Ministry of Forest mapping has not yet been completed and the severity level is currently unknown. Based upon the results of further survey, staff anticipate seeking Board approval to partner with the Ministry in any future Ministry sponsored aerial spraying application for the Trepanier Valley and Coldham Regional Park. Appropriate funding levels will need to be determined for the 2010 Regional Parks budget.

#GS76/09 SHEPHERD/EDGSON
THAT the August 25, 2009 staff report on the Douglas Fire Tussock Moth update be received;

AND FURTHER THAT staff be directed to contact Interior Health (medical staff) and municipal staff to provide information regarding the affect of the Moth on public health;

AND FURTHER THAT staff continue to update the Board on issues related to the Moth and infestation within the Central Okanagan.

CARRIED

-------------------------

FYI - The Tussock Moth is a serious health hazard and can cause reactions in people.  It is also very devastating to trees, including some decorator trees that could be growing in your own yard.

This tree is located near the Spallumcheen Industrial Park near Armstrong BC and was already attacked by the Tussock Moth.  The woman whom lived in the house next to the trees had itchy legs from a reaction to the Tussock Moth during the active season.  She did not know why she had itchy legs and went to the doctor for cream to put on her legs.  It wasn't until a pest control company stopped in to notify the owner of what was wrong his trees that it was found out about how the Tussock Moth can cause reactions in people.

This is a photo is of a left over of the Tussock Moth.

This is a photo of the Tussock Moth Cocoon on a branch.  The cocoons are found on the underside of the branches on this tree.

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August 13, 2009 - Governance & Services Committee Meeting Minutes

3. Delegations

3.1 Lorraine Maclauchlan, Ph.D. Forest Entomologist, Ministry of Forests and Range - Southern Interior Region, Stewardship Section - re: Pest management in Crown forests L. Maclauchlan addressed the committee and provided a review of the Province's pest management in Crown forests and in particular pests around your home.

Information on the Douglas-Fir Tussock moth, treatment and control, as well as recognizing the Western Spruce budworm was highlighted.

• Outbreak of the Douglas-Fir and Tussock moth was reviewed. It was noted the Tussock moth may cause allergic reactions to humans, horses and dogs.

• Mapping is being done in Kamloops, South Okanagan, Similkameen and Rock Creek to Christina Lake. Outbreak is bad in areas of Trepanier, Glenmore Road, and the Kelowna airport area. Outbreaks often start on private lands. Outbreaks last for a period of approximately four years.

• The outbreak in the Okanagan is at approximately year one. By year two or three the outbreak is often rampant. If the Ministry can treat early, the outbreak would cause less damage. It was noted that trees do not necessarily die in the first year but only defoliate.

• Management options were reviewed. When, why or where would you spray. It was noted that this is a naturally occurring pest.

• Ministry policy at the present time is to use virus (NPV).

• Cost estimates were reviewed using B.t.k. and NPV.

• Is there a role the Regional District can play to inform the public? Communicating the potential problem is important in order to inform the public ie: Trepanier is a new area of outbreak.

• If spraying were to occur in rural areas, all communities would have to agree as you can't spray a 'stop, gap' method. Ministry gets signed position from homeowners and in an area all homeowners would have to agree before spraying would occur.

• The Thompson Nicola Regional District has contributed funds to spray on private lands assisting the Ministry with the spray program in the area. Their criteria was 'land had to sit next to Crown lands'.

• The spray is only available from the Province or Federal governments, It's a biological agent and does require special handling methods. Forest services decides when it might be appropriate and how to use it.

#GS63/09 HODGE/BAKER
THAT the presentation by Lorraine Maclauchlan, Ph.D. Forest Entomologist, Ministry of Forests and Range - Southern Interior Region, Stewardship Section regarding Pest management in Crown forests be received.

CARRIED

The Committee discussed:
Whether residents can contact the Ministry directly if there is an issue in their area. Yes, they can and should.

Should an education campaign be communicated by the Regional District? There is time to review as it is too late for spraying this year. Information from staff is needed on what the risks are within the Regional District first before expectations are created. It may be helpful if there were some well timed articles on the moth directly to the medical profession as well as the public. The medical profession needs to be aware that over the next few years reactions may occur to some sections of the population and be educated in order to treat properly.

#GS64/09 EDGSON/BAKER
THAT staff be directed to report back to the Governance and Services Committee if there is a role for local government working with the Ministry of Forests on local infestation of the Douglas-Fir and Tussock moth; as well as whether there is an issue with regional properties that needs to be addressed in the future.

CARRIED

Regional Hospital District

The Board of the Central Okanagan Regional Hospital District has received the 2008 Financial Statements and Reports. The Regional Hospital District had total revenues of $11.1million and expenditures of $10.1 million during the fiscal year.

The Regional Hospital District ended the 2008 fiscal year with an operating surplus of $5.3 million.

The Regional Hospital District Board has approved nine expenditure bylaws providing 40 per cent of the funding or just over $2.6 million towards for capital projects and equipment requested by Interior Health for the Central Okanagan. Among the projects approved:

• expansion of the TeleHomeCare Monitoring program,

• a Cardiology Picture Archiving System,

• a Chemistry Analyzer and a

• Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography CT.

d) BC Ambulance

The question was raised regarding correspondence which has been circulating to local governments regarding working conditions and contractual issues for the BC Ambulance attendants.

It was noted that they will be addressing West Kelowna Council later this week.

By consensus staff were requested to circulate information to the Board on BC Ambulance operations.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 Comments

by blaze24
Dr. Becker even mentions Lyme in either 'The Body Electric' or 'Cross Currents'...

'The Body Electric' by Robert O. Becker, M.D. - (pages 276-278)

Subliminal Stress

"After Howard Friedman, Charlie Bachman, and I had found evidence that "abnormal natural" fields from solar magnetic storms were effecting the human mind as reflected in psychiatric hospital admissions, we decided the time had come for direct experiments with people. We exposed volunteers to magnetic fields placed so the lines of force passed through the brain from ear to ear, cutting across the brainstem-frontal current. The fields were 5 to 11 gauss, not much compared with the 3,000 gauss needed to put a salamander to sleep, but ten to twenty times earth's background and well above the level of most magnetic storms. We measured their influence on a standard test of reaction time - having subjects press a button as fast as possible in response to a red light. Steady fields produced no effect, but when we modulated the field with a slow pulse of a cycle every 5 seconds (one of the delta wave frequencies we'd observed in salamander brains during a change from one level of consciousness to another), people's reactions slowed down. We found no changes in the EEG or the front-to-back voltage from fields up to 100 gauss, but these indicators reflect major alterations in awareness, so we didn't expect them to shift.

We were excited, eagerly planning experiments that would tell us more, when we came upon a frightening Russian report. Yuri Kholodov had administered steady magnetic fields of 100 and 200 gauss to rabbits and found areas of cell death in their brains during autopsy. Although his fields were ten times as strong as ours, we stopped all human experiments immediately.

Friedman decided to duplicate Kholodov's experiment with a more detailed analysis of the brain tissue. He made the slides and sent them to an expert on rabbit brain diseases, but coded them so no one knew which were which until later.

The report showed that all the animals had been infected with a brain parasite that was peculiar to rabbits and common throughout the world. However, in half the animals the protozoa had been under control by the immune system, whereas the other half they'd routed the defenders and destroyed parts of their brain. The expert suggested that we must have done something to undermine resistance of the rabbits in the experimental group. The code confirmed that most of the brain damage had occurred in animals subjected to the magnetic fields. Later, Friedman did biochemical tests on another series of rabbits and found that the fields were causing a generalized stress reactions marked by large amounts of cortisone in the bloodstream. This is the response called forth by a prolonged stress, like a disease, that isn't an immediate threat to life, as opposed to the fight-or-flight response generated by adrenaline.

Soon thereafter, Friedman measured cortisone levels in monkeys exposed to 200-gauss magnetic fields for four hours a day. They showed the stress response for six days, but it then subsided, suggesting adaptation to the field. Such seeming tolerance of continued stress is illusory, however. In his pioneering lifework on stress, Dr. Hans Selye has clearly drawn the invariable pattern: Initially, the stress activates the hormonal and/or immune systems to a higher-than-normal level, enabling the animal to escape danger or combat disease. If the stress continues, hormone levels and immune activity gradually decline to normal. If you stop your experiment at this point, you're apparently justified in saying, "The animal has adapted; the stress is doing it no harm." Nevertheless, if the stressful condition persists, hormone and immune levels decline further, well below normal. In medical terms, stress decompensation has set in, and the animal is now more susceptible to other stressors, including malignant growth and infectious disease.

In the mid-1970's, two Russian groups found stress hormones released in rats exposed to microwaves, even if they were irradiated only briefly by minute amounts of energy. Other Eastern European work found the same reaction to 50-hertz electric fields. Several Russian and Polish groups have since established that after prolonged exposure the activation of the stress system changes to a depression of it in the familiar pattern, indicating exhaustion of the adrenal cortex. There has even been one report of hemorrhage and cell damage in the adrenal cortex from a month's exposure to a 50-hertz, 130-gauss magnetic field.

Soviet biophysicist N. A. Udintsev has systematically studied the effects of one ELF magnetic field (200 gauss at 50hz) on the endocrine system. In addition to the "slow" stress response we've been discussing, he found activation of the "fast" fight-or-flight hormones centering on adrenaline from the adrenal medulla. This response was triggered in rats by just one day in Udinstev's field, and hormone levels didn't return to normal for one or two weeks. Udinstev also documented an insulin insufficiency and rise in blood sugar from the same field.

One aspect of the syndrome was very puzzling. When undergoing these hormonal changes, an animal would normally be aware that its body was under attack, yet, as far as we could tell, the rabbits were not. They showed no outward signs of fear, agitation, or illness. Most humans certainly wouldn't be able to detect a 100-gauss magnetic field, at least not consciously. Only several years after Friedman's work did anyone find out how this was happening.

In 1976 a group under J. J. Noval at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory at Pensacola, Florida, found the slow stress response in rats from very weak electric fields, as low as five thousandths of a volt per centimeter. They discovered that when such fields vibrated in the ELF range, they increased levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brainstem, apparently in a way that activated a distress signal subliminally, without the animal's becoming aware of it. The scariest part was that the fields Noval used were well within the background levels of a typical office, with its overhead lighting, typewriters, computers, and other equipment. Workers in such an environment are exposed to electric fields between a hundredth and a tenth of a volt per centimeter and magnetic fields between a hundredth and a tenth of a gauss."
reply edit record video comment reblog flag
blaze24


by blaze24
Mobile Phone Emissions Increase Worm Fertility:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1889-mobile-phone-emissions-increase-worm-fertility.html

Notice how the Lyme epidemic parallels the cell phone boom?

'Cross Currents' by Robert O. Becker M.D. – page 72.

"In 1975, Professor Richard Blakemore, also of Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, became intrigued by the strange behavior of some bacteria he was studying. Blakemore noticed that the bacteria always clustered at the north side of their culture dish. Even if he turned the dish so that they were at the south end and left it overnight, the next morning the bacteria were back at the north side. While such “magnetotrophic” bacteria had been described before, no one had ever done what Blakemore did next: he looked at them under the electron microscope. What he found was astonishing. Each bacterium contained a chain of tiny magnets! The magnets were actually crystals of the naturally magnetic mineral magnetite, the original lodestone of preliterate peoples. Somehow, the bacteria absorbed the soluble components from the water and put them together in their bodies as the insoluble crystalline chain.

Later studies showed that this arrangement was of value to these bacteria, which lived in the mud on the bottom of shallow bays and marshes. If they were moved by the tide or by storm waves, their magnetic chains were large enough (in comparison to their body size) to physically turn their bodies so that they pointed down at an angle corresponding to the direction of magnetic north. All the bacteria had to do was swim in that direction, and sooner or later they would be back in the mud. This was an interesting mechanism, but it did not contain any sophisticated information transfer. The bacteria did not “know” that north was the way to swim; they just did so. However, these observations opened up a much more interesting series of investigations."
blaze24

by scubamom
As a Lyme Disease sufferer from the Okanagan it is critical to the people of this country that better testing, clinical diagnosis, and treatment (long-term) be available. We are sick individuals who have lost everything while our governments continue to turn a blind eye. The medical profession should be ashamed of their actions and held accountable for their misdiagnosis over and over again. This has caused severe suffering amongst those who are innocent victims. The band-aid approach to this disease in this country should appall every single citizen. It is real and most of us are banished from society and left to die. With appropriate treatment (long-term) our lives could be restored. Telling us it is in our heads or passing the buck doesn't solve anything. I'm so angry and never had any idea the devastation this disease could cause. Please wake up Canada and work together on this.
scubamom

by opiekitty
Gifts like these will ultimately help the thousands of people struggling to get a proper diagnosis treatment in a timely manner. Thank you to the donors. I don't understand why mainstream medicine and our government agencies (United States included) turn such a blind eye to this terrible illness and fight to oppose and put out of business those MD's who recognize Lyme's severity and are willing to treat us with longterm antibiotics. Without those few brave Drs, I would most certainly have been dead by now.
opiekitty

The latest in technology will help streamline Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s emergency department, but some doctors insist it’s not enough.

An electronic patient tracking system is being installed in the emergency department at a cost of $164,000. It will provide all of the details needed to assess and treat a patient.

“As there is always grid lock and code purples and complete congestion, this board will be of little value. We need more funded beds,” said Dr. Chris Cunningham, former VJH medical staff president.

“Without more funded beds at VJH, this board and anything else introduced will be of little help to patients and health care workers. We have had more code purples and a greater amount of over capacities with patients having no proper beds since all our previous cries for help several months ago.”

Dr. Ed Hardy, current medical staff president, has mixed views about the new tracking system.

“The ER docs should be able to see and evaluate patients more efficiently and move them through the department more quickly, but if they end up admitted, they might still end up stuck in ER if there are no beds elsewhere An electronic board of any colour won’t fix that problem,” said Hardy.

Installation of the tracking system comes at the same time that construction has been launched on the new $160 million patient care tower.

“The new tower does nothing to address the critical bed shortage we have had yesterday, we have today, and we will have tomorrow and even well past the day the new tower opens,” said Cunningham.

“We need the government to commit to funding more beds immediately and commit to funding beds in the two extra floors shelled into the new tower.”

George Abbott, health minister, anticipates beds could be developed in the one shelled-in floor after the tower opens in 2011, and the second one some time after that.

“The beds will come as needed and clearly they are needed,” he said, adding that the tower project is an indication of the government taking the doctors’ concerns seriously.

“All of that is needed to relieve pressure on a really good hospital. It’s one of the biggest projects in B.C.”

With the tracking system, doctors and nurses will have access to information like triage level, bed number, symptoms and updates on lab orders. It will eliminate the need to manually track down these details.

“It won’t alleviate code purple but it will allow us to use the space more effectively,” said Dr. Manish Bhatt, emergency department head.

“The white board will allow us to continue to see patients effectively and quickly. We want to take care of our patients and community and this will help.”

Don't forget this new tower won't be ready for two years yet, and we have endured code purple for many years already.

As many of you have read letters concerning VJH, I would like to add my recent experience with our health system.

First of all, I required an ambulance to come to my residence on Thursday evening as I was unable to walk. A non-emergency call was made and within what seemed like only minutes, a medic emergency team from the fire hall arrived just before the ambulance showed up.

The care that I received in emergency was exceptional. As I was moved to a ward on Friday, the care continued in a courteous, professional and dedicated manner. As Saturday approached, I had my surgery and again the doctors and staff were excellent. I was in the hospital for three more days.

However, the downside of my stay was this: I was moved from a private room after one night as someone else coming out of OR needed my room. I was then moved to a semi-private room for one night and then moved again as my condition improved.

Here is the clincher — on my third night after surgery I was moved to what is sometimes referred to as the "Gordon Campbell Wing" — the hallway, where you get absolutely no rest.

There were at least three or four other people in the hallway as well as on the second floor.

Why are we paying medicare and where are our dollars going? Should you not have a room until you are ready to be discharged? I feel for the staff for sure who are so loyal to their patients under such circumstances. They are the last ones who want to move anyone to a hallway with maybe just a curtain for privacy. They are so short of beds that they have to keep people moving continually to free up space.

I would like to say: What is going on with our health care system?

The new facility for VJH cannot happen soon enough. The shortage of beds is critical and I feel should have been dealt with before now and not within two years while we wait for our new facility/expansion.

Vernon and area has grown so much but they have forgotten about our hospital and the desperate need for more space.

Until you are in this situation, you do not realize how critical the issue really is, it was an eye-opener for me.

I think we should all write a letter to our MLA and emphasize our concerns if you feel that this affects you or someone in your family.

Thanks again to the ambulance attendants, ER team, VJH surgical staff and to 2 West for the exceptional care and attention I received during my stay.

The hospital staff are doing so much in such a crowded situation.

I feel that it is amazing they can keep it together to give the professional and expert care that I received.

Erwin Ruf

The biggest health care investment in the North Okanagan’s history has gone from the planning stages to reality.

On Monday, Premier Gordon Campbell and other dignitaries held the ceremonial ground breaking to launch construction of a $178 million patient care tower at Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

“It will make a big difference to the people of the North Okanagan and Vernon,” said Campbell.

It’s anticipated construction of the seven-storey, 181,500-square-foot facility will begin in February, and be completed in May 2011. It will be built on the current site of the Alexander wing.

“It represents a milestone in building patient care in the North Okanagan,” said MLA Tom Christensen.

“It enhances the strong care we already receive from the doctors and nurses.”

The tower will include a new intensive care unit, operating rooms, maternal/child department and two additional shelled-in floors for future patient care beds.

“This space has been designed to meet needs,” said Campbell of the growing population in the region.

“In the next 11 years, there will be a 25 per cent increase in the number of people using it (VJH).”

There will also be a new ambulance garage, an expanded outpatient program and central sterilization services.

The project comes at a time when the existing hospital — with some parts dating back to the 1940s — struggles with patient load and new medical technologies.

Wayne Steward, chief of medical staff, is pleased to see the two shelled-in floors set aside for future beds.

“Perhaps then we can lift the all too common purple haze that hangs over VJH,” he said of code purple capacity issues.

There is no firm funding or timeline for the two shelled-in floors to be completed.

About 40 per cent of the tower project costs will come from the North Okanagan-Columbia-Shuswap Regional Hospital District, and the tower is a public/private partnership between the Interior Health Authority and Infusion Health, a consortium.

Infusion Health will be responsible for the design, construction, financing and maintenance for 30 years at VJH.

Campbell stands behind the public/private partnership.

“The overall savings over the life of the project is $25 million. That’s $25 million that can go to patient care,” he said.

Maintenance at the hospital will transfer from IHA to Infusion Health, and existing employees have been concerned they may lose their jobs.

But Damian Joy, an Infusion Health director, says there have been discussions with the workers’ union.

“A number of those will continue to be employed,” he said.

Joy added that Infusion Health has considered the needs of the community while developing the design.

“We are committed to building a flexible and adaptable space.”

The Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation recently launched a $7 million fundraising campaign to acquire medical equipment for the tower.

“It’s an important and complementary part of ensuring the hospital can be everything it can be,” said Christensen of the campaign.

“The contributions of the community have been critical to help the hospital serve the community.”

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Comment by Cyberlots

It’s anticipated construction to be completed in May 2011 which is after the 2010 Olympics and after how many more code purples ... meaning purple bodies!

B.C.’s health ministry has set up a website and toll-free phone line for people to report problems with care at provincial health care facilities.

Complaints will be directed to six newly established patient care quality offices, one for each regional health authorities.

Issues that can’t be resolved there will be referred to one of six review boards, whose appointees are independent of the health authorities.

B.C. Nurses’ Union president Debra McPherson supported the establishment of independent boards, but wondered if their findings will translate into more resources to solve problems related to over-stretched nursing staff.

“While the boards are getting the power to follow up on complaints made against the various health authorities, those health authorities have been forced to sacrifice many good ideas to improve care, because they must follow strict budgetary mandates set by Victoria,” McPherson said.

More information on the boards can be found on the website at www.patientcarequalityreviewboard.ca or by phone toll-free at 1-866-952-2448.

The provincial government has announced a new system for registering patient complaints about their experiences in the public health care system.

Each of B.C.’s six health authorities, including Interior Health, has a new patient care quality review board and has set up a patient care quality office.

“We all want a quality health system—a system that provides us with appropriate, consistent and timely care; a system that is transparent and accountable; and a system that treats every patient with respect and dignity,” Health Minister George Abbott said in a statement.

Patients in the Okanagan, or their family members, who cannot resolve their complaints directly with their health care provider can contact IH’s patient care quality office, which is supposed to register and track all the complaints as they make their way through the health authority’s review process.

If a patient is still not satisfied, they will be able to contact the review board, whose five members have been appointed by the province. The boards can make recommendations to their respective health authorities and the minister of health, and are required to provide annual reports on the number and types of complaints received, timeliness of service, recommendations made, and other related information.

“In the event that there is a health-care concern that is of a nature that is complex, that cannot be handled at the local or health authority level, it will be sent on to the boards,” said Dr. Jack Chritchley, chairman of the Provincial Health Services board.

“The other aspect of it is, that the boards will be tabulating and collating all of the complaints regarding health care throughout the province. We’ll be looking at those and hopefully be able to identify system problems that the health ministry perhaps could do something about alleviating.”

However, Joyce Jones, co-chair of the B.C. Health Coalition, which advocates for the protection and expansion of a universal public health care system, said this new complaints process appears to simply add more bureaucratic hoops for patients and their families to jump through.

“How come the patients and the families have to move through so many levels in order to find anything before any solutions can be done? That’s making the families and the patients do all the work,” she said.

“It’s the government’s responsibility to provide quality care, so let’s find ways to do it, instead of finding more bureaucratic levels for people to get lost in.”

She added that money spent on the new offices and boards would be better used finding ways to deal with problems in the health care system

Forget the economy, what about alternative health?

There was a lot of hype during the last election campaign; the one we had in 2006, about how the health care system in Canada would suddenly improve.

Wait times for procedures were to be reduced and it would be a sunny day for everyone.

Of course, it never happened, it never will unless the burden is eased and the government starts funding alternative or complimentary medicine.

Alternative health care is often referred to as complementary and alternative health care.

The terms “alternative” and “complementary” refer to using a same therapy differently. That is, alternative refers to using a particular therapy instead of conventional treatment; and complementary is used along with conventional medicine.

I am not writing this column to tell you who to vote for, or who not to vote for, I am just recommending that you ask questions to all the party’s about where they stand on alternative health; namely will they offer a plan similar to the one that keeps big pharmaceutical companies in business.

Why not come up with a program that allows Canadians a choice, a program that has a preset limit or similar structure that allows the user to use it toward any alternative medicine of their choice.

Pharmaceutical drugs are covered under existing plans. The irony, however, is that these drugs will end up making most people sicker, in turn requiring them to need more.

The Fraser Institute published a report on the use of complementary/alternative medicine by Canadians and found that during the 1997 calendar year, Canadians spent approximately $1.8 billion out of pocket on visits to complementary and/or alternative health care providers and an additional $2 billion on herbs, vitamins, diet programs and books. Can you imagine what the dollar figure is now?

According to that same study done by the Fraser Institute, some types of alternative health care are more commonly used than others in Canada. In their study, The Fraser Institute identified the following practices as most commonly used: chiropractic (36 per cent), relaxation techniques (23 per cent), massage (23 per cent), prayer (21 per cent), herbal therapies (17 per cent), special diet (12 per cent), folk remedies (12 per cent), acupuncture (12 per cent), yoga (10 per cent), self-help group (8 per cent), lifestyle diet (8 per cent), and homeopathy (8 per cent).

The national parties should see that Canadians are taking their own health into their own hands and instead of trying to control Canadians; they should encourage us to use alternative health thereby, helping the economy.

We can be easily led down the garden path; I do not know if this path is lined with medicinal herbs, in any case, the Canadian economy is not the problem here.

The economy is just the result of how the money is allocated and in this case, maybe free up some of that conventional medical funding and invest in the areas that will really help people get well, that being, natural medicine.

The money they save can be invested into the environment.

On Oct. 14, vote for the party that has the bigger picture in mind, not just a four year guaranteed paycheque for the leader.

Check out the political party websites; ask the local candidates where their party stands on these issues, not just the issues they decided were important.

Have a good week and stay well.

John Sherman is a professional classical homeopath practicing in Kelowna. He operates the Okanagan Centre for Homeopathy, 764-2487.

homeopath"at"okanaganhomeopathy.ca

Armstrong’s mayor believes a new initiative will not only attract, but help retain doctors in the community.

The Ministry of Health announced changes to the rural doctor coverage program Friday.

“This is really good news,” said Jerry Oglow, who has been pushing to keep physicians in Armstrong-Spallumcheen.

“This initiative will go a long way towards helping build the rural health model.”

Starting Oct. 1, the following changes will be made to the rural locum programs:

Physicians providing general practitioner locum services will be compensated at rates ranging from $750 - $900, depending on the degree of isolation of the host community.

n General practitioner locums will receive between $50 and $100 on top of the daily rate if they provide specific, core services needed by rural hospitals. These include: general surgery, anaesthesia, emergency medicine and obstetrics.

n Rural physicians will receive up to 43 days of potential general practitioner locum support, depending on the level of isolation of the community in which they practice.

n The rate paid to specialists providing locum services to 18 rural communities will increase to $1,200 per day.

n The potential number of days of locum relief for specialists in rural communities will increase to 35 days to recognize the time spent in professional development activities.

By making locums available, Oglow believes that will allow full-time physicians to have reasonable work schedules.

“They need time for themselves and anything we can do to assist them with that, will help,” he said.

But while he is pleased, Oglow admits that other issues must also be addressed if doctors are to remain in small communities, including providing training and professional development.

Besides Armstrong-Spallumcheen, the changes to the rural doctor coverage program will also benefit Enderby.

“This program will alleviate some of the burden carried by rural doctors, provide them well deserved relief and added care to residents,” said George Abbott, Shuswap MLA and health minister, in a release.

A new website has been launched to show physicians around the world why life is better living and working in the Interior.

“Neither B.C., nor any individual health authority, is alone in its challenge to recruit and retain the number of physicians required to meet the growing demand for medical care over the coming decades,” said Cathy Stashyn, leader of physician recruitment for the Interior Health Authority.

In the past, IHA has had a limited role in the recruitment of physicians. Because most physicians serving communities are private business people and do not work for IHA, recruitment was the responsibility of site-level physicians alone. However, given recruitment challenges in today’s market, IHA has developed a comprehensive approach to support communities in attracting physicians.

The www.betterhere.ca site is created specifically for physician recruitment.

Research shows that more than 50 per cent of physicians would use the web to begin searching for new practice opportunities.

The new website ensures that the health authority is able to maximize web-based marketing strategies in its efforts to address current physician supply challenges for communities throughout IHA.

The website emphasizes lifestyle benefits in the Interior, while also providing details of all permanent and locum practice opportunities available in communities.

“Research shows us the primary reason for physician relocation is lifestyle – not only a work-life balance, but also family involvement in community,” said Stashyn.

“This website reflects our recruitment strategy to not only promote the practice opportunities available within Interior Health, but also present opportunities for communities to play an active role in attracting new doctors.”

Interior Health has work to do to improve surgical service, according to a new report by B.C.’s auditor general, John Doyle.

“Overall we concluded that the Interior Health Authority does not have all the necessary systems in place to optimize the use of resources to provide efficient and effective surgical services,” the reports says.

“There is a lack of clear direction, integrated human resource planning and defined roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.”

However, the report also notes that IH has taken significant steps to better manage surgical services.

A surgical council was set up in 2004, with physician, nursing and administrative representatives on it, to standardize surgical services across IH.

Prior to the establishment of the province’s current five regional health authorities in 2001, the 11 surgical sites within IH’s region were independent of one another and their services were uncoordinated, said Andy Hamilton, an anesthesiologist and co-chairman of IH’s surgical council.

“We’ve come a long way now. We’ve built a lot of the foundations, we’ve got some standardized data collection systems, so we’re able to report what’s happening, identify issues and then deal with them,” he said.

“For the first time now we’re able to have accurate data about surgery.”

The council has been successful in implementing pre-surgical screening and a standardized operating room booking system, according to the report.

“All of these initiative are important means of improving surgical service delivery,” said Doyle in a statement.

IH has also done a good job of monitoring and reporting on the performance of its surgical services, said Doyle, but while performance reports are available to IH and the Ministry of Health, there is no public reporting.

The auditor general made 12 recommendations to improve IH’s surgical services. Key among them is the need to standardize equipment and surgical policies and practices across sites, the need for a clear role for the surgical council in managing surgical services and the need for public reporting of performance.

“We agree with the recommendations, we’re working in that direction,” said Hamilton.

“This is all about providing timely, safe, effective care for patients.”

IH’s surgical services was the only health authority to be audited by Doyle’s office. IH was selected because of its mix of rural and urban populations and because it offers a wide range of surgical services.

The audit was conducted in the fall of 2007. The analysis was done during the winter and the report was written during the spring and summer.

The full report can be found at the auditor general’s website, www.bcauditor.com.

Sliced meats confirmed to have listeria contamination have been served in Interior Heath Authority facilities. And now one case of listeriosis has been reported in IHA.

Listeriosis, which is caused by eating the contaminated food, was identified in a Cranbrook woman Monday.

The woman, who has an underlying health condition, may have consumed the product while in hospital.

She contracted the disease prior to the Canada-wide recall of certain Maple Leaf products.

A second case of Listeria in a Cranbrook resident from May has shown not to be a match to the current outbreak Listeria strain.

Recalled product was produced in bulk and purchased and served by institutions across the country, including the majority of healthcare facilities across Interior Health.

But IHA is taking precautions to prevent further outbreaks.

“We have now pulled all recalled product from our facilities and are working with care providers and physicians to ensure they are aware of the potential for Listeriosis cases and can appropriately diagnose symptoms” said Dr. Rob Parker, medical health officer with IHA.

This is the only known case in the IHA yet, but two B.C. patients – one in Fort St. John and another in Prince George – were treated for the same strain of the bacterial infection identified in the nationwide recall of Maple Leaf Foods meat products.

Parker said the IHA notified all food-service directors last Wednesday and, since then, has been checking with hospitals and IHA-owned and -operated care facilities to make sure they are aware of the recall and have pulled all existing products.

“Our main thing is making sure we contact everybody. Which facility did or didn’t get the meat, I don’t know.”

IHA public-health inspectors are also contacting private senior-care facilities in the area to make sure they are aware of the recall, since this type of infection can greatly affect seniors.

And, with an incubation period of 21 to 90 days, Parker expects the health authority will see listeria cases in the next few weeks.

“It’s hard to know how many cases in B.C. or whether we’ll get IH residents affected because we really don’t know how much contaminated food is out there . . . or how much got consumed before the recall.

“So we’ll have to wait and see, unfortunately.”

On average, Parker said the IHA sees one or two cases of listeria a year.

The bacteria can be routinely found in certain products, like unpasteurized cheeses.

Food contaminated by listeriosis may not look or smell spoiled.

If eaten, the food-borne illness can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.

However, if a person thinks they have eaten the recalled product, there are no preliminary tests to determine if they’ve been infected and there are no preventive or prophylactic medication.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, there are 17 cases of this listeria monocytogenes strain nationwide: 13 in Ontario, including the death of three people, one in Saskatchewan, one in Quebec and the two in B.C.

Another 16 probable cases of the same strain are being investigated in Ontario.

After discovering the bacteria that causes listeriosis in Sure Slice roast beef and corned beef produced at a Toronto plant last week, Maple Leaf has expanded the voluntary recall to include 23 deli meat products, including turkey, smoked meats and beef products.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is also warning the public not to eat McDonald’s sliced turkey breast and a variety of Schneiders meats, including bavarian and cheddar smokies and smoked ham and turkey.

The complete list of nearly 200 products is available at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2008/list97be.shtml.

Tim Horton’s roast beef is also on the list, but Vernon franchise owner Dan Currie says the local stores haven’t been serving the beef since June.

Canadian health officials advise consumers to throw out all deli meats if they don’t know where they came from.

These products have been distributed nationally to retail stores and food service institutions such as restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, and other institutional cafeterias or kitchens.

These products may also be sold at deli counters.

The blueprints are changing for Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s planned tower expansion.

B.C. Minister of Health Services George Abbott announced Thursday that the new patient care tower at VJH will expand further, from five storeys to seven, and modernize services for patients.

Kelowna General Hospital will also receive a major expansion, with construction contracts for both projects being awarded to Infusion Health, an international consortium that, according to its website, is “experienced at developing and delivering complex public-private partnerships in Canada and around the world.”

“A tremendous milestone was reached today, a milestone that shows our commitment to building patient care in the Okanagan,” said Abbott. “These hospital expansions are the largest single investment on record in the health system for the Interior. They are a critical part of our government’s plan to renew public health care and improve patient care in communities around the province.”

The new VJH tower, which is being built adjacent to the existing hospital, will include new operating rooms, a new emergency room, new intensive care unit, new maternity and pediatrics ward, an expanded and consolidated outpatient department, and two new shelled-in floors for inpatient beds.

A new ambulance garage will also be built, and new and more efficient central sterilization services will be added.

Joanne Konnert, chief operating officer for the Interior Health Authority, said priming is under way for when the two new shelled-in floors will be ready to house patients.

“The province and Interior health are looking at the future needs for acute care beds, so we’re looking at our existing population and the age of the population, that sort of thing,” said Konnert.

“Once we know where we will need more beds, and I’m quite sure the Okanagan will be one area that needs more beds, we can begin to plan for what kind of services would go in there, and have a conversation with government around the operating dollars.”

Vernon’s expansion plans jump from the original estimated 135,000 square feet to 181,500 square feet, or a 34 per cent increase. It would make the new patient care tower more than twice the size of the Wesbild Centre.

Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen said the government has listened to the people of the Okanagan, health care professionals, community leaders and patients.

“Today, we are going above and beyond our original commitment and providing even more health care for our communities today and for decades to come,” said Christensen.

According to Abbott, this final contract includes a number of significant enhancements to the original project plans announced in May 2007, and brings the value of the construction project to $432.5 million.

Infusion will assume all construction (cost and schedule), design, long-term maintenance and operational risks, as well as other costs related to the project. They will also be responsible for “preserving the integrity of the structures over the next 30 years,” and will manage plant maintenance across both sites.

All clinical health services will be funded by the province and provided by Interior Health.

Expansion at Kelowna General Hospital will include a new consolidated outpatient department, new emergency department, new operating rooms, a rooftop heli-pad, two shelled-in floors for inpatients and a new renal dialysis department.

A clinical academic campus for UBC’s faculty of medicine will also be built.

A total of $15.5 will also be spent on new equipment for the hospitals.

The project’s completion date has now been adjusted to be finished in 2011, one year later than the originally projected 2010 completion date, given the amendments to the project. Konnert believes the time frame can, and will, be met.

“These folks have timetables and face financial penalties if they don’t meet those timetables,” she said.

Construction of the new facilities will take place concurrently with normal day-to-day operations at both Vernon and Kelowna.

Plans to contract out Vernon Jubilee and Kelowna General hospital maintenance services to a private contractor could result in more than 50 workers losing their jobs.

B.C. Minister of Health Services, George Abbott, announced Thursday, that further expansion plans for new towers at Vernon Jubilee and Kelowna General hospitals will include the contracting out of services to Infusion Health, an international consortium awarded the construction contract on both projects.

Hospital Employees’ Union secretary-business manager Judy Darcy said, in a press release, the move will see more than 53 experienced trade and maintenance workers losing their jobs.

The impacted workers include electricians, plumbers, power engineers, electronic technicians and other maintenance workers who make sure hospital systems and equipment are well maintained and quickly repaired with little disruption to patients and other hospital staff.

Jeet Dukhia, the chief engineer at VJH, who has been employed at the hospital for nearly 30 years, said workers were shocked, disppointed and pretty well unhappy with the whole situation.

“Interior Health couldn’t give us a reason why they are doing this,” said Dukhia. “It has nothing to do with monies. We have, in the past, developed some systems that have saved Interior Health millions of dollars here and in Kelowna.”

Dukhia said being at VJH is “more than a job.”

“It’s our hospital, we think of it as our facility, like we own it personally,” said Dukhia. “We don’t understand. It’s not about money, it’s not about performance. They tell us we’re doing an excellent job, that they’re proud of us. Why are they doing this? We can’t get any answers.”

Joanne Konnert, chief operating officer for Interior Health, said the decision to contract out services was based on safety and efficiency.

“We had a couple of choices, one was the proponent could do the whole site or we could split it with Interior Health doing the old building and the proponent doing the new building,” said Konnert. “At the end of the day, there were probably two or three things that led us to go with the proponent. They’re going to want their own plant services people to maintain the new building. They’re responsible for 30 years for the building so they’ll make sure they maintain it the way they want it maintained.”

Konnert said having an old and new building also means integrating crucial systems, such as security, fire and nurse call.

“It made more sense, from a safety perspective, to have one person, one company, one group doing it,” she said. “I recognize that’s disappointing news for the plant services workers.”

Asked if Interior Health employees could bid on jobs with Infusion Health, Konnert said the new group “has a good transition plan.”

“I’m sure they’ll be talking with our staff, as will we, we’ll talk with them and the union to make this as smooth a transition as possible,” she said.

Dukhia said contracting out services will cost Interior Health three times as much, rather than using existing workers, and that those funds could have been diverted towards patient care. Konnert disputes those numbers.

“A number of facilities in other parts of the province have contracted out food services, housekeeping and those types of things, and I don’t believe it’s costing them three times as much,” she said. “I don’t have specific details from the new group on how they plan to provide the services, but we have standards they have to meet and we expect them to meet those standards.”

The blueprints are changing for Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s planned tower expansion.

B.C. Minister of Health Services George Abbott announced Thursday that the new patient care tower at VJH will expand further, from five storeys to seven, and modernize services for patients.

Kelowna General Hospital will also receive a major expansion, with construction contracts for both projects being awarded to Infusion Health, an international consortium that, according to its website, is “experienced at developing and delivering complex public-private partnerships in Canada and around the world.”

“A tremendous milestone was reached today, a milestone that shows our commitment to building patient care in the Okanagan,” said Abbott. “These hospital expansions are the largest single investment on record in the health system for the Interior. They are a critical part of our government’s plan to renew public health care and improve patient care in communities around the province.”

The new VJH tower, which is being built adjacent to the existing hospital, will include new operating rooms, a new emergency room, new intensive care unit, new maternity and pediatrics ward, an expanded and consolidated outpatient department, and two new shelled-in floors for inpatient beds.

A new ambulance garage will also be built, and new and more efficient central sterilization services will be added.

Joanne Konnert, chief operating officer for the Interior Health Authority, said priming is under way for when the two new shelled-in floors will be ready to house patients.

“The province and Interior health are looking at the future needs for acute care beds, so we’re looking at our existing population and the age of the population, that sort of thing,” said Konnert.

“Once we know where we will need more beds, and I’m quite sure the Okanagan will be one area that needs more beds, we can begin to plan for what kind of services would go in there, and have a conversation with government around the operating dollars.”

Vernon’s expansion plans jump from the original estimated 135,000 square feet to 181,500 square feet, or a 34 per cent increase. It would make the new patient care tower more than twice the size of the Wesbild Centre.

Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen said the government has listened to the people of the Okanagan, health care professionals, community leaders and patients.

“Today, we are going above and beyond our original commitment and providing even more health care for our communities today and for decades to come,” said Christensen.

According to Abbott, this final contract includes a number of significant enhancements to the original project plans announced in May 2007, and brings the value of the construction project to $432.5 million.

Infusion will assume all construction (cost and schedule), design, long-term maintenance and operational risks, as well as other costs related to the project. They will also be responsible for “preserving the integrity of the structures over the next 30 years,” and will manage plant maintenance across both sites.

All clinical health services will be funded by the province and provided by Interior Health.

Expansion at Kelowna General Hospital will include a new consolidated outpatient department, new emergency department, new operating rooms, a rooftop heli-pad, two shelled-in floors for inpatients and a new renal dialysis department.

A clinical academic campus for UBC’s faculty of medicine will also be built.

A total of $15.5 will also be spent on new equipment for the hospitals.

The project’s completion date has now been adjusted to be finished in 2011, one year later than the originally projected 2010 completion date, given the amendments to the project. Konnert believes the time frame can, and will, be met.

“These folks have timetables and face financial penalties if they don’t meet those timetables,” she said.

Construction of the new facilities will take place concurrently with normal day-to-day operations at both Vernon and Kelowna.

The North Okanagan’s MLAs insist they aren’t ignoring public concerns about Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

The Vernon Taxpayers Association claims Health Minister George Abbott hasn’t acted on an 18,000-name petition about health care, and Okanagan Vernon MLA Tom Christensen hasn’t provided information on the private sector’s role in a new diagnostic and treatment tower.

“There is plenty of action going on,” said George Abbott, who is Shuswap MLA.

“We are working very hard to finalize the contract terms for the medical services tower. We hope to be in a position within a few days to make an announcement.”

Tony Stamboulieh, association spokesman, questions why Abbott hasn’t acknowledged the petition, which demanded more acute care beds, operating rooms, nurses and an MRI machine.

“The minister has not spoken to us once,” said Stamboulieh.

“We have to inform people that their signatures count for nothing as far these politicians are concerned.”

The association sought information from Christensen July 6 on Infusion Health, a private consortium that may be involved in the planning, constructing, financing and operating the tower.

“There’s no information and they (government) carry on like it’s a good idea,” said Stamboulieh.

“No one seems to get any information that we are entitled to know.”

Christensen insists the association’s questions may be premature.

“The Interior Health Authority continues to work towards finalizing the project and it went through the tender process. I don’t want to say anything that may jeopardize negotiations,” he said.

Christensen believes the public wants a major expansion of VJH.

“That’s what I’ve been working towards with George Abbott and IHA.”

In terms of new acute care beds, Abbott says there will be additional capacity through two shelled-in floors in the tower, and the ministry is looking at the issue of nurses.

“Nurses are a precious commodity and we are working hard to add nursing spaces in B.C.,” he said of the post-secondary education system.

Stamboulieh vows that the association will continue to push for improvements at VJH, and he is putting together a fact file.

“The association invites all citizens who have been victimized by these shortages and who have had to sleep in corridors or worse to share their story with the association,” he said.

A health policy researcher at UBC Okanagan says the provincial government’s recent “conversation on health” was an attempt by the government to get the public onside with its agenda of expanding the role of private health care.

British Columbians however, refused to go along.

In the latest issue of the journal, Healthcare Policy, associate professor in health studies at UBCO, Alan Davidson says that from the outset, the government saw the problem as “excessive and rising public expenditure on healthcare.”

What’s more, it had already decided what the best solution was, “privately financed care supplementing or replacing publicly funded services.”

Davidson says in his article Sweet Nothings? The BC Conversation on Health, that the government’s goal was to co-opt a public which has repeatedly resisted the erosion of a single-tier public health care system.

“Essentially, co-optation boils down to using the Conversation as a cloaking and legitimating device for predetermined outcomes,” he writes.

The government provided the facilitators of the 16 regional forums held across the province with conversation starters that Davidson calls “deliberatively one-sided and provocative.”

He highlights one that said, “Did you know in Sweden and France, patient cost-sharing and co-payments are required for many services?”

Another coupled projections of growth in the number of seniors with the statement, “studies show that people in their 90s use approximately $22,000 in health services each year – 10 times what people use on average in their 50s.”

Davidson notes however, that forum facilitators did not always use the starters and he credits the government for creating a forum format which, “left participants free to suggest areas of discussion and to choose their own focus groups and topics.”

The outcome of the conversation was “strong support for existing public programs,” writes Davidson, “along with recommendations for their expansion into more effective home care and drug programs.”

The government, to Davidson’s surprise, did not attempt to suppress these findings. “The government made good on reporting honestly the feedback it received through the Conversation,” he writes.

A spokesperson for Health Minister George Abbott said Abbott was on vacation and not available for comment about Davidson’s article. However, the spokesperson was able to provide a statement written by Abbott, but it did not address Davidson’s claim that the point of the conversation on health was to co-opt the public.

“Our government’s Conversation on Health was an unprecedented public consultation that saw more than 6,400 people participate in regional forums, 12,000 submissions, 78 forums and millions of hits on the Conversation on Health website,” it said.

“The government was clear from the beginning that the Conversation on Health was about engaging as many British Columbians as possible in a discussion about health care.”

The statement went on to say the conversation informed the government’s legislative agenda which includes increasing the scope of practice for health professionals such as nurses and pharmacists, streamlining the process of getting credentials for doctors from other parts of Canada as well as from outside the country; introducing E-Health initiatives; and establishing Patient Care Quality Review Boards.

A few weeks ago, the Vernon Tax Payers Association presented a petition containing 18,000 names to our elected officials asking for adequate funding for Vernon Jubilee Hospital. As I listened to Tony Stamboulieh read the petition I asked myself how it could be that Canada, a rich country, currently ranks among the lowest of 30 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries in the ratio of doctors and acute care beds per thousand people? It is not the lack of funding for billions of dollars are injected in the system every year.

I believe there are three major reasons. The first is increasing illness due to environmental toxins. Almost half of Canadians contract cancer. Over 20 per cent of children have asthma. There is an epidemic of obesity in adults and children. And before you rush to add that this is due to living longer, let me point out that this is not true. Children are contracting cancers and children are born with increasing problems. We are the first generation whose life expectancy is longer than that of our children. Hundreds of chemicals used in our everyday life carry risks of increased cancer, infertility, learning disabilities and other intellectual impairment, and damage to the immune system. There are less toxic substitutes for these products, but industry lobbies to maintain their registration and legal use drowns out the voices of concerned health professionals and families concerned about health.

The second problem is that doctors treat symptoms rather than the cause of illness and often do so in a way that worsens the problems. Over-prescription of drugs is causing far more deaths than street drugs and is responsible for millions of hospitalization per year. Skyrocketing PharmaCare costs have now eclipsed all other health care expenditures.

The third problem is the lack of adapted programs and systems. There are not enough home support and home care programs and assisted-living services for people with chronic care needs, including many seniors who wish to stay in their own homes and communities. We need to create centralized wait lists, move from a paper system to electronic technology to share information, address the staffing shortage and in some cases, the facility and equipment shortages. The longer people wait for treatment, the sicker they become and the longer they suffer.

This situation is far more dangerous than we may think. The threat of a NAFTA challenge from the American for-profit health care industry cannot be over-estimated. Allowing for-profit health care would be the “thin end of the wedge” that jeopardizes our entire health system. Based on the rules for “national treatment,” if Canada allows increasing numbers of for-profit facilities, we run the risk of losing our entire universal single payer system in a NAFTA challenge. We cannot take that risk. Fixing our health care system means protecting the core elements of universal single-payer health care. I am thankful to the Vernon Taxpayers' Association for highlighting this issue for it might motivate us to treat the causes rather than the symptoms, and in doing so, protect our national health care system.

Huguette Allen,
Green Party MP Candidate

MLA Tom Christensen is being pressured to launch a public discussion over the expansion of Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

Jeet Dukhia and Vic Schrauwen, both engineers at VJH, are concerned about the new diagnostic and treatment tower being constructed through a private/public partnership.

“He (Christensen) should have a forum to tell the public the government is building the hospital with P3 money and not the government’s money,” said Dukhia.

“He’s our representative and he should address the concerns of the public.”

Dukhia says it costs more for private companies to borrow money than government, so that drives expenditures up.

He is also concerned that lease payments from the government will divert money away from health care.

“They should ask the public whether we want it done by P3 or public,” he said, adding that B.C. has a budget surplus and that could help finance new health care facilities.

Dukhia and Schrauwen are also concerned that the public will have little say in how the tower is run, and that services will be cut to meet the needs of shareholders.

The Interior Health Authority is currently in discussions with Infusion Health, an international consortium, to design, construct, finance and operate the tower.

It could also include maintenance of the existing hospital.

But Schrauwen is convinced this will lead to privatization of health care.

“Once they have control of the hospital for 30 years, they will get into other things,” he said.

Christensen is unwilling to have a public meeting on P3s.

“I’ve met with them and they have expressed their concerns,” he said of Dukhia and Schrauwen.

Christensen insists that public/private partnerships are an efficient way of providing facilities and they are common in B.C.

“What I am interested in is ensuring a top quality project in a way that’s cost-effective for taxpayers,” he said.

Christensen denies services are at risk through private/public partnerships.

“It’s unfortunate that people who don’t like P3s point to some concept of inferiority. But when services are audited, they do as well as those done in-house. P3s have saved millions of dollars,” he said.

Your article in the July 11 edition entitled: "VJH process raises concern," and specifically the comments of MLA Tom Christensen and Spalumcheen director Lorna Bissell, demands a response.

In respect to Ms. Bissell's comment to the effect that without P3s a new hospital wouldn't have been built in her former town, perhaps she can explain why government couldn't finance the hospital and yet a private contractor can — albeit at a higher rate of interest and thus cost passed on to the taxpaying public?

In respect to MLA Christensen's remarks to the effect that "The experience with P3s in the province has resulted in significant savings of taxpayer dollars," I would point out that in the absence of factual information his remarks remain simply assertions.

And, as most people know, asserting something as true does in no way make it true.

The fact of the matter is that the taxpaying public has no way of really knowing whether or not they are receiving value for money given that not only the negotiations for P3s are done in secret but that when completed, the agreements are protected by proprietary privilege accorded to the contractor as a private entity and thus not available for public scrutiny.

Witness what happened with the new P3 hospital in Abbotsford.

What the politicians are saying, in effect, is "trust us; you have our word that you are getting value for money."

In other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom and Australia the use of P3s by government has resulted in substantial cost overruns as well reductions in both the quality and extent of services provided, with the end result that governments in those jurisdictions had to step back in to the picture and rescue those facilities and services they provided.

At additional costs to the taxpaying public, it must be noted.

The bottom line, born out by numerous peer reviewed studies, is that publicly funded and administered, universal health care services and facilities are both cheaper to construct and operate and provide better results; that is have better outcomes in that less people get sick and die than do those privately funded and operated.

Perhaps that is what the vast majority of British Columbians were saying in the provincially sponsored Conversations on Health Care, where they stated clearly their preference for such a system of health care.

Mr. Christensen's comments demonstrate clearly that he and his government colleagues continue to ignore the wishes of the majority of British Columbians and instead cater to a minority of well-placed advocates of privatized health care.

And, contrary to Mr. Christensen's assertions, P3s are another step in the ongoing, incremental privatization of our otherwise public health care system.

Bob Hagman

The Ministry of Health services is anticipating a major cash infusion.

The provincial government will seek legislative approval for an extra $120 million for the public health care system this year.

“In balanced budget 2008, government dedicated 68 per cent of every incremental dollar of new spending to the public health system for the next three years to support increased services to British Columbians across the province,” said George Abbott, Shuswap MLA and health minister.

“As a result of stronger than expected revenues from the oil and gas sector, government has sought $120 million for health authorities to meet increased demands and pressures across the system, including for surgeries and diagnostic procedures.”

The additional $120 million is more than a 25 per cent increase above the additional $465.7 million provided to health authorities in February this year. Total provincial health spending including the Ministry of Health Services, health authorities and health services delivered by other ministries will now rise to a record $14.95 billion this year, up from $9.3 billion in 2001. Health spending is expected to reach $16.5 billion in 2010/11.

A portion of one-time funding will ensure the province continues to build upon record levels of surgeries and diagnostic procedures. This year, the province expects that an estimated 12,102 hip and knee replacement surgeries will be completed. That will represent a 152 per cent increase in knee replacement and 68 per cent increase in hip replacement surgeries over 2001. Median wait times for hip replacement surgery have decreased by 42 per cent and knee joint replacement surgery by 33 per cent since 2001. The province also expects to add to its record level of diagnostic procedures, which includes 75 per cent more CT exams and 145 per cent more MRI exams, between 2001/02 and 2007/08.

“With a growing and aging population, increased use of new and expensive technologies and pharmaceuticals, we are seeing incredible demands placed on our public health care system,” said Abbott.

While the rest of province’s health authorities have received a final grade on housekeeping, the Interior Health Authority has excluded itself from the report card.

Results from the most recent independent provincial housekeeping audit show British Columbia hospitals and health authority-run long-term care facilities meet the prescribed benchmark for cleanliness. For the second year in a row, all participating health authorities scored above the benchmark rate of 85 per cent in the audits carried out by Westech Systems, Inc.

But the one authority missing from the mix is IHA.

IHA performs its own housekeeping audits, and has done so since excluding itself in 2007.

“The internal audits give me much more information than the external audits,” said Alan Davies, head of the Okanagan food services and housekeeping.

Doing its own audits also allows IHA the ability for more frequent attention. Unlike the annual provincial audits, IHA’s are done quarterly and on a complaint basis.

“There’s some places we audit every week,” said Davies.

While IHA auditors are internal, Davies says there isn’t room for personal opinions or bias in the audits.

“There’s no grey area, you either pass or fail,” he said, adding the auditors are actually trained by Westech Systems.

For example, if dust is found on a window sill, it’s an automatic fail in that category. Because of in-house laundry services, Davies says high dust accumulation is one area IHA struggles with.

“Dust seems to be one our biggest challenges.”

Another reasoning for doing independent audits is IHA was finding the results were quite similar across the board and similar to its internal audits.

But doing its own audits allows IHA to link results to particular areas with more ease.

IHA’s most recent audit, for the quarter ending March 2008, shows all facilities are meeting the grade and surpassing the 85 per cent benchmark.

In the North Okanagan, Gateby received its highest score yet at 92.89, Noric House scored 93.95, Enderby’s Parkview Place scored 92.56, Pleasant Valley Health Centre in Armstrong scored 90.15 and Vernon Jubilee Hospital just passed the mark this time at 86.89. The average score for the entire IHA was 89.49.

That number is higher than almost all of the other authorities provincial scores: Fraser Health – 87.44, North Health – 87.2, Provincial Health Services Authority – 89.41, Vancouver Coastal Health – 87.47 and Vancouver Island Health Authority – 87.24.

When IHA participated in the provincial audits previously it scored just over 90 per cent for both 2005 and 2006.

While IHA didn’t participate in this year’s provincial third-party audit, it will have a grade beside its name next year.

B.C.’s quality and cleanliness standards apply to all hospitals and health authority-managed facilities.

“We are pleased that all health authorities met this high benchmark for housekeeping services,” said Minister of Health Services George Abbott. “Housekeeping provides an important function in our health facilities, helping prevent the spread of infection as well as ensuring the safety and comfort of patients and staff. These audits are another example of our accountability and transparency to residents of British Columbia.”

The provincial audits were done between August 2007 and March 2008 in five health authorities, as Westech moves towards a continual auditing of facilities throughout the year.

All audits are done by a third party, are independent, and are unannounced. Westech audits approximately 10 per cent of rooms in a facility, placing a higher priority on higher risk areas such as operating rooms and emergency departments. These audits are in addition to internal audits done by health authorities, based on the same provincial criteria set out by the Westech audits.

“It is important to recognize that if an individual facility scores below 85 per cent, it does not mean it is unsafe,” said Dean Waisman of Westech. “It does mean there is room to improve, and gives facilities an idea of where improvements need to be made.”

All facilities that scored below the benchmark level were subsequently re-audited by Westech, and all showed significant improvements, with most reaching the benchmark level.

Prior to the establishment of health authorities, external housekeeping audits were not done in B.C. hospitals. The first housekeeping audits done in Vancouver Coastal Health in 2003, prior to contracting out of housekeeping services, showed an average result of 75 per cent.

“These reports show that it is more challenging to maintain our high standards of cleanliness in older facilities and busier facilities,” said Abbott. “That is why we are investing $2.7 billion into new hospitals and facilities over the next three years to replace or remediate outdated facilities and to expand space in other facilities for better patient care.”

Your article titled 'Is there a doctor in the house' is well argued and thus makes a valuable contribution to informing public debate and discussion. However, like any discussion on health care services, some sort of context vis-a-vis how Canada compares with other countries is also critical to informed debate. And, in the context of physicians per 100,000 people, for the years 1990 to 2004, Canada stood well down the list of all countries in 54th place, with only 214 doctors per 100,000. Well below Cuba with 591, the U.S.A. with 549, Belgium 449, Estonia 448, Greece 438, Russia 425, Italy 420 - the list goes on.

Contrast this with the ratio of physicians to population in the 1970's where Canada had the second highest ratio among developed countries.

As you point out in your article, this abrupt change took place in the early 1990's following the Bare-Stoddart Report, which stated that there was a surplus of physicians in Canada and recommended a 10 per cent reduction in the number of medical students. What followed has been accurately described as one of the most serious public policy failings by both the federal and provincial governments of the day as they took steps to reduce the number of seats and necessary funding available in medical schools across Canada. Compounding this reduction was the federal government cutbacks in transfers of funds to the provinces in the order of 10's of billions of dollars in the early 1990's.

It is my view that there is simply no excuse that Canada's physician to population ratio should lag far behind not only countries that are equally wealthy but shockingly, those countries that are classed as 'developing' or Third World.

It is arguable - convincingly, I believe - that in no small measure this situation can be attributed to the success of the relentless attack by the self-styled experts, corporate funded think tanks and media 'chattering class' that our Canadian health care system costs too much; is out of control; and the only solution(s) are to be found in and through a larger measure of private, for profit health care. All of this despite Canada having already a larger proportion of private delivery of health care services than other less costly systems such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc., where those countries also enjoy higher physician to people ratios than Canada.

And, this 'battle' of 'private delivery' versus 'public delivery' continues today. But, it is important to note, the debate is only in the minds and actions of the advocates of private delivery. It is instructive to note that the vast majority of Canadians, as evidenced over decades of public opinion polls, have resoundingly stated their continuing strong preference for a public health care system that is universal in scope, and is publicly funded and administered. All of this despite relentless propaganda by the private health care advocates.

This strong public opinion reflects an issue that resonates deeply with most Canadians.

The real question to be asked is why, in view of this strong preference by Canadians, our politicians seem determined to ever increase the amount of privatization of our public health care system?

After all, it can't be the economics of the matter given the numerable peer reviewed studies showing conclusively that a public system of health care is not only cheaper than private but has - some would say most importantly - better outcomes; that is, fewer people get sick or die.

What could be simpler?

Perhaps our political decision-makers should try to escape their ideological blinkers and myths in respect to holding that the 'market should be the final arbiter of all things' and start listening to what the general public has been saying for so long and, more importantly, actually doing what the public has been saying unequivocally for decades.

Let the debate begin.

Bob Hagman

George Abbott hopes his math skills sum up the new addition to Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

The provincial Minister of Health Services was at VJH Thursday morning to officially unveil the hospital’s new 64-slice CT Scanner, which replaces an old four-slice model.

“I hope this is 16 times better than the old one, if my math is correct,” laughed Abbott, who was joined by other dignitaries and hospital staff for the unveiling of the $2 million state-of-the-art piece of technology that provides faster, more detailed scans that will allow doctors to accurately detect life-threatening illnesses at early stages and determine effective treatment options.

“With early diagnosis, many patients are able to receive less invasive treatments with better outcomes possible than with later diagnosis.”

The new scanner, 60 per cent of which was paid for by the Ministry of Health Services through Interior Health, and 40 per cent by the North Okanagan Columbia Shuswap Regional Hospital District, will allow radiologists and technologists to scan cancer, pediatric, elderly, trauma and respiratory-compromised patients more efficiently and quickly.

It’s a machine that has 64 individual sets of x-ray emitters and detectors that work at the same time.

“With increasing demand for CT services, the new scanner will help keep wait times down,” said Abbott.

VJH performs 30 to 40 CT scans per day.

The new piece of equipment allows for more complex scans, meaning patients requiring more detailed scans, such as for neurological tumours, will not have to travel to Kelowna General Hospital for enhanced scanning.

“The new scanner allows us to increase our diagnostic capabilities, and allows us to go to areas we couldn’t go before,” said Dr. Glenn Scheske, medical director of imaging for VJH.

It’s also been a recruiting tool for the hospital as well, as Interior Health has hired three radiologists and a CT technologist for the imaging department.

“We’re very proud of this installation, it’s world-class,” said Zeno Cescon, Interior Health’s program administrator for diagnostic imaging. “These new additions ensure that we now have the human resources at VJH to sustain the CT department, as well as enhance the CT department to provide the necessary service for the emergency room, surgery and the intensive care unit.”

Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen, who was the first to have a CT scan in 2008 on the old four-slice machine, thanks to an emergency room stay at New Year’s, said the new equipment is a critical part of the ongoing investment being made in the provincial health care system to ensure there is health care in the community.

“The number of CT scans in B.C. has increased dramatically,” said Christensen, who, along with his three kids, was born at VJH. “We’re doing the best job possible.”

The scanner will help radiologists and technicians to better perform CT angiograms, visualize small abnormalities in the chest and perform guided biopsies in all part of the body in the diagnosis of suspicious-looking growths that can potentially be the early stages of cancer.

Two VJH technologists were sent to Japan for advanced training on the Toshiba-made scanner.

Since 2001-02, B.C. has acquired 17 new CT scanners for hospitals.

Abbott said Shuswap Lake General Hospital in Salmon Arm will also be receiving a new 64-slice model.

 I read with great interest the letter by the group of doctors and then the letter from the economics professor. Dr. Craig Mitton PhD from Okanagan University. The professor’s letter put the picture into a proper perspective.

I don’t blame the doctors for wanting a better facility that provides for the future as well as the present.

My wife worked for years in Vernon Jubilee and put in many hours of unpaid overtime because of the shortage of available resources.

I know that doctors do the same. There is a need not only to make informed decisions about the allocation of the limited funding available but more to the point to revamp our health care delivery system.

The following quote from an article in the Fraser Institute’s recent publication “A Sad State of Affairs” written by Nadeem Esmail has this to say:

"Canada’s health care program is one of the most expensive in the developed world but it delivers relatively poor access to physicians, technology, and care.

"However, the rhetoric extolling the greatness of Canada’s Medicare program and Canada’s approach to health care policy continues to stifle discussion and debate.

"The reality is that Canada’s approach to Medicare is the problem; changing the policies that many politicians and pundits defend would markedly improve the performance of Canada’s health care system."

It is time for all of us to review the way we think about our health care system and demand that our government revise the way it delivers it so that we are in tune with the modern reality.

R.J. Reid

Physicians are cautiously optimistic that upgrades at Vernon Jubilee Hospital will address long-term care health care needs.

In a statement issued to The Morning Star, medical staff state that they are now aware of attempts by the Interior Health Authority to have two shelled-in floors added on to the diagnostic and treatment tower.

“This would allow us the physical space to address this need,” said Dr. Chris Cunningham, medical staff president.

Doctors have suggested in the past that current plans for the tower will do little to address the needs of a growing region, including the lack of new acute care beds and an MRI machine.

Currently, IHA is negotiating with the Ministry of Health and the regional hospital district to fund the two extra floors. If that occurs, only the rough outline of floors would be done, with completion only proceeding when dollars exist.

“With support from the government, we are optimistic that we could fill this space operationally,” said Cunningham in the statement.

“We need to continue to work towards acquiring this support from this government, however. We owe this to our patients and this North Okanagan population. With the news of this additional space, we are optimistic and support the planning process of this new patient care tower at VJH to be opened in 2010.”

IHA officials welcome the physicians’ stance on the tower.

“We’ve always had the sense that the physicians support the services going into the tower and their concern was about additional in-patient resources,” said Joanne Konnert, chief operating officer.

It’s hoped that IHA will have a commitment from the ministry and the hospital district this fall on possibly funding two additional shelled-in floors.

As for the dollars needed to complete those floors and open new acute care beds, Konnert says that issue is a few years away from being resolved.

“If they are shelled in, it doesn’t take much to finish the floors,” said Konnert.

Recently, the Vernon Taxpayers Association launched a petition campaign demanding improved resources at VJH. It collected more than 18,000 names.

“The taxpayers association has been instrumental to us, in allowing the North Okanagan population to voice their concerns regarding the need to have the government adequately support acute care services and beds at VJH,” said Cunningham.

The provincial government is accused of ignoring “crisis” conditions at Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

Carole James, NDP leader, and Adrian Dix, the party’s health critic, made a stop Wednesday to express concern about what they see as a lack of resources at VJH.

“There is a crisis in Vernon and in this region,” said James, adding that there have been 50 code purple alerts so far this year because the facility was at capacity.

“It’s the worst in B.C. and yet the government says there is no problem.”

Recently, 18,000 people signed a petition demanding increased acute care beds, operating rooms and nursing staff at the hospital.

“It should be a sign to the government that there’s a problem. People are speaking out,” said James, who in a subsequent press release, described VJH’s emergency room as “almost constant chaos.”

Much of the focus from doctors has been on the need for more acute care beds, and James agrees.

“Acute care beds are a large part of the problem,” she said, adding that previous cuts to health care are responsible.

James believes the Liberals are too focused on Vancouver.

“Anything that’s outside of the Lower Mainland is ignored by this government. But the resources that support all of us in the province come from the north, the Okanagan and the Interior,” she said.

Members of the Vernon Taxpayers Association met with James and Dix.

Tony Stamboulieh, association spokesman, is concerned about the development of the new $81 million diagnostic and treatment tower and the fact that a large company will not only finance and build it, but operate the tower.

“We want to know the details of the contract before it has been signed. What are they getting out of our public health assets?” he said.

Health Minister George Abbott insists the NDP is misinterpreting the situation at the hospital.

“We haven’t suggested there aren’t challenges. There’s a good reason why we are investing close to $100 million in the next few years,” said Abbott.

“I don’t recall the NDP at any point during their 10 years in government investing any significant dollars at VJH. They talk and we act.”

Tom Christensen, Okanagan Vernon MLA, is quick to refute the claims of the NDP.

“We are working hard to be responsive to what we’ve heard from health care workers,” he said, adding that he and family members have been patients at VJH.

“I would never describe it as chaotic and that is an insult to health care workers who are doing a tremendous job.”

Christensen says the government expanded VJH’s emergency room last year, is moving ahead with the diagnostic and treatment tower and has increased nurse training.

“People need to look at what the NDP did to health care over their 10 years and the investment we’ve made since 2001,” he said.

Efforts to bring a hospital to Westside have reached new heights.

A petition has been circulating in the community for less than a month and already 5,000 people have signed their names to it, according to organizer John Burke.

He pulled out binders full of signatures as proof of the headway he and fellow volunteers have made by knocking on doors, leaving sheets on countertops at major retailers and from setting up info booths at malls since the beginning of May.

Burke said a hospital in Westside would provide better access to health care to 45,000 people from Fintry to Peachland, and possibly another 12,000 residents as far south as Summerland. Therefore, a Westside hospital would relieve pressures on the Okanagan’s three existing major health facilities in Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton, he added.

“I am going for a full blown hospital because of the overcrowding in the other three hospitals.”

Petition supporter Ron Green said, he hoped Interior Health would soon start to come around to the fact that Westside needs a hospital because of its burgeoning population.

Another supporter of the petition is former Tahsis mayor Sylvia McNeil, who now lives in Westside.

McNeil said her tiny Vancouver Island community of 700 had better health care than Westside, which has more than 60 times the population of Tahsis.

“The emergency care was better (there) than it is here,” said McNeil. “You wouldn’t die waiting for someone to take care of you if you had a heart attack.”

Green added that Interior Health planned poorly when it decided to proceed first with a major expansion at Kelowna General Hospital before considering some sort of hospital in Westside.

McNeil stated that Westside taxpayers should be angry that they must foot part of the bill for a major expansion at KGH when their own community needs its own acute care facility. “We’ve got young families, we’ve got a busy, busy highway that goes through the centre of this community that’s dangerous, we’ve got more and more seniors living here,” she said.

And there are staff at Kelowna General Hospital, who live in Westside, who would love to work in their home town, added McNeil.

“We’ve got staff, now all we need is a building.”

Minutes after the statement was made, McNeil’s comment was confirmed. A woman who works at KGH signed the petition, saying she would love to work at a Westside facility.

The petition calls on Interior Health to nix its notion that a health centre, which is little more than a clinic, is all Westside needs.

Petition organizers have tentatively called themselves the Okanagan Westside Hospital Association, and formed a six-member executive now seeking society status from the provincial government.

However, Victoria has been unwilling to grant the group nonprofit status. The province doesn’t want the organization to use the word healthcare or hospital in its title, said Burke.

jluciw "at" kelownacapnews.com

Paul Latimer is president of Okanagan Clinical Trials and operates his own psychiatry practice. His column focus is on mental health, helping us understand various treatments, both prescription and alternative, that can help control the symptoms.

But administrator Peter Du Toit has suggested that the hospital and staff should not be involved in anything political. And he certainly has a case as the petition has residents and most North Okanagan municipal councils lobbying the provincial government for more funding.

But politics plays a minor role in the entire issue. The bottom line, ultimately, is the well-being of North Okanagan residents and their health care. It’s about the patients who get shoved into a hall because there is no room for them, or have surgery cancelled because of the waitlist.

Funding for VJH does come from the provincial government, and the IHA’s board is appointed by Victoria, but it is supposed to operate as as stand-alone jurisdiction. If it is truly interested in the public it serves, IHA would take a firm stand instead of worrying about upsetting its political masters.

In terms of the petition taking time away from staff who have to answer public questions, that is fair comment. But that could be easily resolved by instructing staff to make the petition available but to only answer questions when they don’t interfere with patient care.

In the end, IHA and the public are on the same team. We all want what’s best for the hospital. But administration needs to acknowledge that its case for improved resources can be bolstered if they embrace the public’s willingness to get involved.

pc: Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier

Look at all the carbon created driving back and forth from Armstrong and Enderby to Salmon Arm and Vernon. The sustainable government says cut down on your driving and the health government says do more driving. I think government is crazy to be honest, but I guess we have to be crazy too, for allowing things to get this way.

As I have been reading the Vernon Morning Star and other newspapers this past few months, Vernon and Armstrong are not the only ones feeling the effects of health care problems. Government keeps telling us they have doubled spending on health care, well everything has doubled in price and the population has been aging and government knew that the population would aging! How did we get to this point in the first place if government is not mismanaging health care period?

Its obvious we have problems that government doesn't seem to be able to repair. Are we not running out of money because government decisions fund unnecessary water meters, power house theatre, flag poles, etc. I don't need a water meter, a theatre, or a flag pole when I am laying in the hospital, how about you? I will need nothing if I am dead, and this is only one reason why I feel health care should come first!

For all the meetings about health care with the government, and the government still having their blinders on, don't you think its time that we as the people took back some control. I would like to take the govern out of the word government and replace govern with "direct" the public, and the public govern instead. Obviously we are not happy with politicians decisions over health care, are we? Wouldn't you like to tell that Health Minister off??

What about the waste of money spent on the hospital expansion plan of three floors that were planned for atop VJH which extra steam pipes, duct work, electrical and plumbing were all installed for as stated (April 30 Vernon Morning Star Letters "Go UP" by Rob Friesen) a sheet metal worker that helped build the hospital back in 1982 to 1984? Its no wonder we have no money in our pockets.

If you feel that health care comes first before theatre's, water meters, and flag poles, I would suggest everyone take their tax dollars and pay it directly to the doctors and nurses who will know what to do with it. I am sure the doctors and nurses will not think to purchase a water meter or theatre before a hospital or an MRI machine!

We got into this problem because of government in the first place and they don't seem to want to fix it, or it would be getting fixed, they just want to argue about it.

For years now we have been plagued with problems at VJH and not just this year. I have read about code purple at VJH years ago already. I wouldn't be reading about code purple in the newspapers for so long, if the government wasn't into arguing more so than fixing! I want the doctors and nurses to help decide where my money gets spent and not Health Minister George Abbott or IHA.

One thing is for sure, and that is we desperately need change in the way government is permitted to govern because they don't seem to be able to do their job. Like the doctors said, what happens if there is a disease outbreak or something more serious?

The health care problems plaguing us is a serious problem, and not something to sneeze at!

Where is revenue going to come from when taxes on cigarette and tobacco sales start to decline??

What will government have to do when all the smokers quit smoking and live longer requiring more healthcare and more hospital visits?

The Regional Hospital District Board is comprised of the members of the Regional District Board. It meets as required for decisions on tax requisitions and funding of major health-related capital projects and equipment. The Regional Hospital District contributes 40% towards these approved projects. At the March 28th special meeting, the Regional Hospital District Board approved the Five Year Financial Plan, including the 2008 Budget of $15.7 million. For a home assessed at $456,000 ($316,000 in 2007) the contribution to the Regional Hospital District is $110.96, up $5.23 from 2007.

Residents surveyed on doctors' shortage

click Vernon Morning Star April 2, 2008 article to read larger print

Initial survey returns support medical clinic.

click article from Armstrong Advertiser April 9, 2008 to read larger print
Initial survey mailed out says there is an overwhelming desire to have a health care clinic in Armstrong.

Armstrong Gets a Loan
Medical Equipment Loan Cupboard opens for Armstrong and Spallumcheen.

click article to read larger print

Snippets
"It was really hard for everyone. The Red Cross took the equipment that had been donated so we had to start again. Everything we have here has been donated," said secretary treasurer Doreen Couldwell. The cupboard space, in the old Hassen Arena, was built with donated materials and labour from community service groups.

"Everyone was very supportive. Armstrong is a good community in that we will take on anything that is needed," said Huge Sharkey, vice president. President Alberta Foster was smiling as she cut the ribbon to officially open the cupboard. The Armstrong/Spallumcheen Medical Equipment Loan Cupboard is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 am to noon. For more information call 546-4991.

I wish to express how very concerned I am regarding the need of a medical clinic for Armstrong and Spallumcheen. I cannot begin to thank Dr. Sherwin, Dr. Rutherford and Dr. McLellend enough for taking time to attend our meeting on the 28th.

Their contributions to our concerns were most vital. I was most disappointed when at the second meeting, Dr. Sherwin was told by the city and Interior Health that there was no money for a clinic.

Recently, there has been a third meeting on the doctor shortage - medical clinic issues.

I read that Mayor Will Hansma was not invited. What happened there?

I would hope that our city mayor and council would represent the voice of the taxpayers, agree on something, pull together and do something positive about this grave situation we are in.

Kay Buchanan