The Bella Coola Medical clinic has a doctor shortage on its hands and the residents of the central coast community are facing limited services through August and perhaps beyond.
Down to two doctors through August due to vacations the health service providers of the town are coping as best they can but have appealed to the government for help in addressing the situation.
Gary Coons the MLA for the North Coast has been prominent in his quest for government intervention into the situation, having fielded a number of calls and e mails from local residents concerned about the state of health care on the North Central coast.
The full story was the lead item on the front page of Tuesday’s Daily News.
BELLA COOLA CLINIC FACES CRISIS; ONLY TWO DOCTORS LEFT
Services curbed as staff try to cope
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Pages one and three
The Bella Coola Medical Clinic is facing a serious doctor shortage, and has appealed to the government for urgent help in addressing the situation.
The community was already facing a crisis with only three doctors, but this month it only has two physicians to handle the workload.
“What we had done was sent a letter to the community saying we’re short of doctors, and we’d have to limit services to some extent during the month of August, and quite possibly at various times into the future unless the situation improved,” said Dr. Alistair Anderson, Bella Coola Medical Clinic Chief of Staff.
“We are struggling along with two doctors this month, and normally three is not enough to do the amount of work that’s generated here.
“Two is major stress, but we’ve done some things to reduce the stress. We’ve made some plans to make sure urgent things are looked after, and it seems to be working reasonably well. But if we were down to one doctor, it would be undoable.”
North Coast MLA Gary Coons has been receiving numerous calls and e-mails from concerned residents and medical professionals, and recently wrote his own letter to the Minister of Health to further inform him of the dire medical situation in Bella Coola and surrounding areas.
“This is a concern not only for Vancouver Coastal Health but for all health regions and needs to be taken seriously by Vancouver Coastal and the Minister of Health,” said Coons.
“Whether it is a shortage of doctors, nurses, or other health care professionals this is an issue that is critical for rural communities and there must be a concerted strategy to deal with it.”
As Minister of Health George Abbot is currently on vacation, he was not available to comment, but his staff did respond to questions from the Daily News regarding the medical services in Bella Coola.
“The emergency room in Bella Coola is not closing during the month of August. While one of its three doctors goes on holiday during August, the Bella Coola Medical Clinic will be reducing its services, however two physicians will still be available for anyone needing emergency medical services,” said Erin Klingmann, Ministry of Health Public Affairs Officer.
“The community still has access to on-call services, even if the ER closes. It is a very small community and it is not a matter of having to drive a long distance if they suddenly found the ER to be closed. Help is generally a phone call away, making it more accessible, in some ways, than in a big community.”
Dr. Anderson doesn’t believe that Bella Coola will get the additional help required to provide the minimum services to residents, whether this month or next.
“I’m not sure what (the Minister’s office is) getting at there. If you have only one doctor and that doctor is exhausted, then there is no availability,” he said.
“You have to recover from being on-call, you can’t be on-call day after day. Even being on call one and two days is train after a short while, depending on how busy you are. Even if you’re not very busy, that underlying anxiety about what might come in is always there.”
As a result of being short-staffed, during the month of August, the Bella Coola Medical Clinic will not be filling out any forms or writing letters, not will there be any new admissions into the hospital for respite care.
People visiting the Emergency Room will be assessed by the nurse, and physicians will only see patients who are assessed to have a medical emergency.
There aren’t any appointments open for the month of August, and physicians won’t be able to guarantee any speedy response to phone calls or messages.
Down to two doctors through August due to vacations the health service providers of the town are coping as best they can but have appealed to the government for help in addressing the situation.
Gary Coons the MLA for the North Coast has been prominent in his quest for government intervention into the situation, having fielded a number of calls and e mails from local residents concerned about the state of health care on the North Central coast.
The full story was the lead item on the front page of Tuesday’s Daily News.
BELLA COOLA CLINIC FACES CRISIS; ONLY TWO DOCTORS LEFT
Services curbed as staff try to cope
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Pages one and three
The Bella Coola Medical Clinic is facing a serious doctor shortage, and has appealed to the government for urgent help in addressing the situation.
The community was already facing a crisis with only three doctors, but this month it only has two physicians to handle the workload.
“What we had done was sent a letter to the community saying we’re short of doctors, and we’d have to limit services to some extent during the month of August, and quite possibly at various times into the future unless the situation improved,” said Dr. Alistair Anderson, Bella Coola Medical Clinic Chief of Staff.
“We are struggling along with two doctors this month, and normally three is not enough to do the amount of work that’s generated here.
“Two is major stress, but we’ve done some things to reduce the stress. We’ve made some plans to make sure urgent things are looked after, and it seems to be working reasonably well. But if we were down to one doctor, it would be undoable.”
North Coast MLA Gary Coons has been receiving numerous calls and e-mails from concerned residents and medical professionals, and recently wrote his own letter to the Minister of Health to further inform him of the dire medical situation in Bella Coola and surrounding areas.
“This is a concern not only for Vancouver Coastal Health but for all health regions and needs to be taken seriously by Vancouver Coastal and the Minister of Health,” said Coons.
“Whether it is a shortage of doctors, nurses, or other health care professionals this is an issue that is critical for rural communities and there must be a concerted strategy to deal with it.”
As Minister of Health George Abbot is currently on vacation, he was not available to comment, but his staff did respond to questions from the Daily News regarding the medical services in Bella Coola.
“The emergency room in Bella Coola is not closing during the month of August. While one of its three doctors goes on holiday during August, the Bella Coola Medical Clinic will be reducing its services, however two physicians will still be available for anyone needing emergency medical services,” said Erin Klingmann, Ministry of Health Public Affairs Officer.
“The community still has access to on-call services, even if the ER closes. It is a very small community and it is not a matter of having to drive a long distance if they suddenly found the ER to be closed. Help is generally a phone call away, making it more accessible, in some ways, than in a big community.”
Dr. Anderson doesn’t believe that Bella Coola will get the additional help required to provide the minimum services to residents, whether this month or next.
“I’m not sure what (the Minister’s office is) getting at there. If you have only one doctor and that doctor is exhausted, then there is no availability,” he said.
“You have to recover from being on-call, you can’t be on-call day after day. Even being on call one and two days is train after a short while, depending on how busy you are. Even if you’re not very busy, that underlying anxiety about what might come in is always there.”
As a result of being short-staffed, during the month of August, the Bella Coola Medical Clinic will not be filling out any forms or writing letters, not will there be any new admissions into the hospital for respite care.
People visiting the Emergency Room will be assessed by the nurse, and physicians will only see patients who are assessed to have a medical emergency.
There aren’t any appointments open for the month of August, and physicians won’t be able to guarantee any speedy response to phone calls or messages.
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