An organization advocating for better health care north of the Malahat says two years have passed since the B.C. NDP promised a patient tower and cardiovascular intervention centre at Nanaimo General Hospital, but concrete plans have yet to materialize.
The Fair Care Alliance is hosting a health care forum this week to call attention to the issue and it says the provincial election is providing the perfect backdrop.
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The Nanaimo Regional General Hospital property is a busy place with crews building a new BC Cancer Centre and a nearby parking area. But with the region’s aging population, the Fair Care Alliance, an advocacy group, says work on other significant health care needs seem to have stalled.
“We want immediate attention to the cardiovascular intervention centre. That’s a project that can be built out in three years and we need the province to identify that, recognize it, and make it happen immediately,” said Donna Hais, chair of the Alliance. “That’s a phase of our overall acute care campus construction that leads into the tower. We’d like to see a tower there in eight years and we believe all of that is possible.”
Dr. David Forrest, president of the hospital’s Medical Staff Association, says the lack of cardiac staffing and equipment is becoming a real emergency.
“We are seeing patients who are suffering, dying or having serious harm every week in Nanaimo and this is a problem in terms of access for the residents of central/north Island; that’s 500,000 people who do not have access to this critical service,” said Forrest.
The Fair Care Alliance is hosting a forum at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre Sept. 24 at 5 pm. They’re urging municipal candidates, elected officials and anyone who cares about health care in the region to attend.
“To join us for information around health care, how it’s structured, who pays and who actually has a say in what happens to those dollars,” said Hais.
While in Lantzville for a groundbreaking for a new long-term care home on Monday, B.C.’s health minister said both projects are on his ministry’s radar.
“We need the tower. We need the cath lab. Nanaimo is growing at a really fast pace and it’s becoming an important hub for the entire region for health care. I’ve made it a priority since becoming the minister of health to work with the Ministry of Infrastructure to expedite plans and development for that,” said Ravi Kahlon, who was named the health minister in a cabinet shuffle in August.
But the Fair Care Alliance says it’s been hearing the same thing for the last two years since the last election, without committed funding. It calls this the region’s largest election issue.
More details about the health care forum can be found at weneedhealthcare.ca It is also going to be streamed live for those who can’t attend in person.