Editor:
Open letter to Northern Health Authority, Michael McMillan
This letter voices my ongoing concern regarding the shortage of doctors and the critically unsafe condition of health care in the Lakes District.
You have had four months to take control of the situation and yet nothing has been done.
You need to open a new clinic in Burns Lake and staff it with salaried doctors.
Start with one doctor and then add doctors and/or nurse practitioners as they become available.
This needs to be done immediately using whatever office space is available in Burns Lake, on a temporary basis.
When the new hospital is built then the clinic can be moved into the permanent facilities there.
In the last few moths our health care situation has gotten worse instead of better.
The physicians here are stretched beyond their capabilities and if things continue as they are, there will eventually be fatalities directly related to this issue.
You need to address this immediately. We need action today.
The process appears to be bogged down in political maneuvering; while residents of the Lakes District are suffering for it.
If you will not make the necessary changes, then you need to step down and let somebody else do the job …somebody who will make the hard decisions for the good of the residents in this area. We are worried and concerned and tired of being ignored. Something needs to be done now.
Wayne D. Svehla, Burns Lake
