Minister’s tour drops in on Rupert

Heath Minister George Abbott spent some time around the Prince Rupert Regional hospital last week, taking a look for himself at the state of health care on the North coast.

Abbott was full of praise for the local staff members and found many great things taking place under the Northern Health umbrella. He admitted that there seem to be some issues over mental health and addictions in the local community, so perhaps we may see some action on those two pressing items of local concern.

He shared his thoughts of his Friday visit with the Daily News for their Monday edition.

HEALTH MINISTER CHECKS ON ACROPOLIS MANOR PROGRESS
George Abbott says more primary care resources are still needed in region
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Monday, July 23, 2007
Pages One and Three

Minister of Health George Abbott stopped off in Prince Rupert last week on what was a five-day tour of the Northwest region of British Columbia.

“I had some great meetings here today in Prince Rupert,” he said. “I’m very impressed with how they’re working together here.

“This is a staff that’s very much engaged with the patient population that they serve. They work very much in an orderly and proper way, and there’s a lot of great things that Northern Health is doing at this site.”

He was particularly pleased with progress on the new Acropolis Manor.

“I’m delighted with the new Acropolis coming on. There will be even more that staff will be able to do to serve patients here.”

The minister’s tour included a visit to Queen Charlotte Village, a day in Skidegate, as well as Masset, before stopping in Prince Rupert on Friday.

“I’m very impressed at the work being done at this hospital,” said Abbott. “What I really want to encourage here is building more primary care resources. I think Northern Health’s done a great job, but there’s more opportunities that staff has raised both at the hospital here and downtown at some of the primary care centres there. We probably have some additional work to do around mental health and addiction services for the Northwest. But particularly the primary care and building some opportunities to try and serve the growing senior population.”

Abbot heard many health issues and concerns raised by citizens across the Nothwest region last week, but he felt there was a one question that ran through all the communities.

“I think a lot of it revolves around prevention and primary care. There’s lot of concern that we have the appropriate resources to deal with a growing seniors population, particularly with chronic disease conditions,” said Abbott.

“That’s a big issue not just here in the Northwest, but right across the province. The number of citizens in B. C., who are over 65 years in age is going to double over the next 10-20 years. We need to have not only residential care and assisted living resources, but we need to build a stronger primary care centre in British Columbia.”

He also feels that the problems need to be addressed at the community levels for solutions to be effective.

“We don’t have sufficient opportunities currently to reach out to the vulnerable population and try to address their needs. A good example is Type 2 diabetes. It is already a significant problem in British Columbia, but we anticipate over the next decade or tow we’ll see a doubling of it. Some of it is the aging population, but it’s also the younger population, so there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on both the prevention and primary cares sides. So when we identify the candidate population for diabetes that we get them on best practices management for their condition, so they don’t end up in emergency rooms.”

Also a serious problem in the Northwest is the issue of recruiting and training medical professionals for the region, which Abbott sees as improving in the coming months.

“I think the best thing we’ve got going for us is the new Northern medical school at UNBC, and that’s going to be very helpful. All the academic literature would suggest if you educate more nurses and doctors in the North, they are much more likely to remain in the North for long term. We’ve also brought into play some new partnership programs with the B. C. Medical Association and others to try to encourage more doctors and nurses to set up practices in areas that have traditionally been under-serviced, Prince Rupert being one of them.