A local seniors advocacy group is calling on various levels of government to come together to address what it is calling “a crisis in Campbell River which just keeps getting worse.”
In a letter addressed to North Island MLA Claire Trevena, along with Minister of Health Adrian Dix, Premier John Horgan, members of the board of Island Health, the mayor of Campbell River, BC Seniors’ Advocate Isobel McKenzie and others, the Citizens for Quality Health Care say additional resources and a change in the delivery model are needed to improve the state of health care in our region – especially for seniors.
After thanking Trevena for her work in helping Campbell River get its new hospital, the letter, which was officially received at the most recent meeting of city council, goes on to say that capacity issues at that new facility, combined with the lack of space at local assisted living and long-term care facilities, are issues that are creating “a crisis which is quickly burgeoning further out of control.”
“Our hospital has been over census since the day it opened,” the letter reads. “Recently there were 169 patients in our hospital with up to 45 patients waiting for placement and nowhere to go. There are patients on stretchers in surgical day care as well as in every nook and cranny just like before in the old hospital.”
Part of the problem, according to the group, comes from the fact that there is no room in the local assisted living facilities and a lack of resources for home support services, so seniors who would be better off in their own homes or a care facility end up in the hospital instead, and “the hospital is really not equipped to care for long term residents,” the letter says.
“If Home Support was substantially increased it would help people stay in their homes longer,” the letter says, which would go a long way towards mediating the problem. “Home Support used to provide more services than they do now but unfortunately cutbacks in funding reduced their capabilities.”
And the model for care is broken, as well, the group claims. Private Public Partnerships (P3s), the group says, creates a situation where profit is valued above care, according the group, which is contrary to Island Health’s Mission Statement, “Excellent health care for everyone, everywhere and every time.”
After council received the group’s letter, it was decided that they should discuss the matter more thorougly at the next Committee of the Whole meeting, scheduled for Aug. 28.
“This is an important issue with lots of questions,” said Coun. Charlie Cornfield. “It affects the health of our seniors and it affects the delivery of healthcare at the hospital. I think these are important issues that we need to start getting involved in.”
Cornfield also chairs the board of the Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital District (CSRHD), and added that the issues brought up in the letter, along with the letter itself, “will most likely be on our next (CSRHD) agenda, as well,” so he looks forward to the discussion at the Committee of the Whole meeting to get the city’s perspective on these issues to bring with him to that meeting in September.
