Kitimat An open letter to: Kitimat and northwest ~ residents Hello: The Kitimat General Hospital provided a regional orthopedic service from the early 1970s until ' 1986. By 1991 it was obvious that operating with only a general surgeon meant that we did not ’ have the volume of operating room work to keep the people and skills necessary to provide basic hospital care for our community in the long run. In order to correct the situation we sought, and received, support from the other facilities in the region for re-establishment of ‘ gegional orthopedic service in. Kitimat. This was done to avoid competition with recruitment and to the base for funding from the Ministry of-Health. Over $100,000 was spent in An open letter to: The Honourable Paul Ramsey Minister of Health Dear Mr. Ramsey: - In 1992 the health ministry © funded, at a cost of over $40,000, a totally independent review of health services in the northwest. - Among many recommenda- _tlons, thé review stated that the - orthopedics service, currently in Kitimat, be transferred to Prince Rupert for the following reasons: .* Prince Rupert had a medical” and nursing/support services in- frastructure, including an in- tensive care unit to support this service. * Had an intensivist (a specialist in critical care) on staff fo complement the service. . * Had the operating.room ca- pacity and beds on the. surgical" floor ta support. this-service * * Prince Rupert had better air- access, via medevac, for ongoing . major trauma cases.-‘The ‘review ‘recognized that for two to three _ months. of the years the Ter-— tace/Kitimat airport has an almost’ 50 per cent cancellation Tate ‘due toweather, » ® Review team recognized that no one facility should develop its medical manpawer to the detri- ment of others. * Prince. Rupert would have a secure base of specialists. if orthopedics, and the recom- mended pathology service were added. We submitted, on June 4, 1993, a: full impact analysis .outlining the costs of transferring this ser-“ vice ‘and,.to date, have had no correspondence or reply from the ministry on this. Correction A LENE was missing from a pare ; ‘graph of Mary Bowering’s Dec. 8 letter to the editor. Here is the paragraph in full: “A Jetter of information can be ‘sent home to parents so that at-— ‘tendance at such a presentation - would be voluntary.”’ " Northwest . recruitment but by 1992, Dr, Phalen had agreed ‘to ‘come to . ‘Kilimat and provide “a regional ° orthopedic service, Orthopedics is a demanding program for a facil-. ‘ity to manage, Starl up cosis for equipment .cte. were = over $350,000. Al least 2 days pet week of operating room time is required as well as access to 7-10 beds. . The Northwest Health Services Review in November 1992, haw- ever, put the orthopedic service up for grabs. This has iniliaied a feeding frenzy that has pul medi- cal staff. against medical - staff, faculty against faculty, and com- munily agalnst community across the region. Even Dr. Newbery’ $ consider: able ability:as a facilitator could . not establish a consensus. The present situation certainly lends credence to the saying, ‘if it’s The Ministry of Health ap- pointed Dr. Peter. Newbery in January of 1993 to implement the Northwest .-Health Services recommendations’ and not. to rewrite the document. Dr. New- berry is not an ‘unbiased observer in this matter as he is a practicing general physician in: Hazelton, 4 ‘facility that has close géographi- cal and professional ties to Ter- FACE, We reject his recommondation that the service go to Terrace, as it is, in our view, a one-sided, biased opinion. We must remind you that this board has fully supported the Health '. Services Review report and, in particular, supported there being just one G.T. scanner, situated in Terrace, for the northwest as this was Bis- : _ ba ed ‘fered to Prince poet unacceptable Regional. Health Care Society to Review spoke: of “the: -need? for’ Tegional - cooperation. ‘We. now find: it-totally: inappropriate and for the: Terrace ~ not broke, don’t fix it’’. However, let's deal with the facis rather than the emotions sur- ‘rounding the issue. The North- “west Health Jecommendalion was that the Services Review orthopedic service be moved to » Prince Rupert. Dr. Newbery, as. regional co- ‘ordinator, recommended that the services should be moved to Ter- race. Both of these recommenda- tions were based on the assump- tion that a 25-bed facility in Kitimat can’t support a regional orlhopedic service. Kitimat General Hospital has 34 acute care beds. Given the layout of the present building we are at the point of diminishing returns. _ Whether we operale at 34 beds of 25 there is little overall saving. We have implemented the orthopedic program and still _Ianaged to reduce the average No. Move him to Rupert suggest that there should be only one multi-faceted base hospital i in the northwest. , The 25,000 citizens of Prince Rupert and the Queen Charlotte | Islands would not support Prince | Rupert: Regional Hospital being reduced to a diagnostic and .treat- ment centre. Failure to transfer the orthopedic. service to Prince Rupert is the first step toward centralizing services in Terrace. This whole issue is not a politi- cal issue, it is not an issue of non- . cooperation and it is not an Issus of Prince Rupert trying to in- fluence the recommendations of a independent body, but rather an issue of your . ministry procrastinating on implementing the recommendation of the North- west Health Services which states that orthopaedic services be trans- ; “Tan ‘Corhish, me Chair, Prince Rup ert Regional Haspital, Prince Rupert, B.C. 4551 Grelg Ave., Terrace, BG VAG 1M7 AUGIES DINNER SPECIALS MONDAY Chicken Cordon Bleu TUESDAY 8 oz, New York Steak with Caesar oo Salad WEDNESDAY Beef Kabob served with. rice : THURSDAY BBQ Pork Ribs FRIDAY Prime Rib ‘SATURDAY 8 oz. New York Ss4 925 Monday to Saturday 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Minimum Beverage Charge of $1.75 TERRACE INN | 635-6630 Best Wishes and many thanks from the staff of. “Audrey s Coit Pures 4603 - J Park Avenue length of stay from 4.7 days la 3.9 days. Average length of stay for orthopedic patients is 0.4 days less than the norm and infection rates are well below the average. There is complete. consensus among the regional facilities that Kitimat General Hospital should continue to cxist as a hospital. Our opinion is that this is best achieved by leaving the regional orthopedic service in Kitimat. In addition, the cost of relocat- ing this service is high. There will be dollar costs in gearing up the receiving facility as well as a cost to support Kitimat, whatever that entails. Additionally, there will be per- sonnel and training issues to be resolved as well as operating toom time and available beds. In short, it is our opinion that the. costs of moving the orthopedic service at the present time far outweigh the benefits of an enhanced orthopedic program for the region. D. Burton, Chairman, ‘Board of Trustees, The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 15, 1993 - A9 Baby's Name: ~ Kiren K. 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