A12 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 8, 1999 Hospital silent on nursing numbers By ALEX HAMILTON LOCAL HEALTH care of- ficials continue te he hazy over the number of nurses on duty at Mills Memorial Hospital. © °° They, do acknowledge there is a nursing shortage and--that- they--are~hiring: new ones as fast as they can, oo, The ‘issue is at the cen- tre of a local health care controversy which has now drawn in. other hospitals from around the region. The number of nurses at Mills is critical as the hos- pital-can only admit as many people as it has nurses to care for them. Since’ July, Mills offi- cials have released a con- stant stream of memos ef- feclively cutting. off ad- missions, with the excep- tion of emergencies. Although Mills. has a stated bed count of 25 on its main medical ward and three in its intensive care unit, it has been trying to: run below those numbers for months. For. several crucial weeks in the summer, Mills’ placed a 15-patient limit on it main ward when the nursery was open and 20 when the nursery was closed, As late as Nov. 24, Mills officials re-affirmed their no-admittance ' pasi- tion. “Mills Memorial Hospi- tal is closed to: further ad- missions fo the main ward and ICU. (intensive care unit) until further notice, due to an unavailability of ° nursing staff and beds,” read a memo. It was an exact copy of one released in mid-October. Tom Novak, the man _ brought in this spring to fix - the budgel-:problems «at. * Mills and. who is now run- ning’ the hospital until a replacement is found, is reluctant to talk nursing numbers, , “I’m nol going to give you numbers,” he said. “I only look at what | need, | don’t look at what I have.” Novak said the hospital is 3.5 FTE (full time eqi- valents) away from being at full staffing comple- ment, which equals about 5 nursing postions. He ‘added the hospital recently: hired two full time nurses, and one nurse has returned from holidays, which greatly improves staffing levels. “If nurses don’t pet sick it. will make a big difference,” he said. However, the hospital still lacks casual nurses (those who work on an on- call basis only}, which means whenever a nurses is sick or takes holidays, it will be difficult to find a replacement. “There will be shortag- es, basically,” he said. “What it essentially means is that we’re doing the best we can with the resources we have. We’re working within our budget so I :think we're doing okay.” The problem lies in how many permanent nurses there on on staff and how many are working at any particular time. Novak acknowledges there will always be nurses away for any number of reasons, , This brings inte play casual nurses, people brought in to temporarily fill vacancies caused when permanent nurses aren’t available, There aren’t enough ca- suals, says Novak in ad- ding that nursing shortages aren’t just affecting Mills. While Novak is reluct- ant to talk numbers, one local specialist isn’t. Internist Michael Ken- yon says one night last week’ there were just lwo general ward nurses on shift to handle 22 people on the. main, ward and for ‘three women in labour. Continued Pg. A13 aLdy ;... Terrace Standard Tasos Bese) Hill slumps away MORE THAN 20 feet of land at the top of Kalum St. hill broke away after heavy rains early Saturday morning, threatening the stability of the road. City crews closed the hill to traffic and diverted. overflowing drains to avoid. further erosion. Trees, grass and a park bench that used to overlook Christy Park were all carried down the hill. City staff weren't sure Saturday when or if the raad would be reopened to traffic. Deadllimes! FOR DISPLAY, CLASS DISPLAY AND WORD CLASSIFIEDS Issue of Sat., Dec. 25 - Weekend Advertiser NOON. Dec. 21 Issue of Wed., Dec. 29 - A p.m. Dec. 21 Issue of Sat., Jan. 1 - Weekend Advertiser NOON Dec. 22 Issue of Wed., Jan. 5 - Terrace Standard 4 p.m. Dec. 29 f y nen > an ¢ | OFFICE CLOSED Dec, 24, 27 & 31 THE NEWS. “TERRACE ; de » ert ‘orive Homneast STANDARD ADVERTISER 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2 For More Info phone 638-7283 ae Medical Equipment Loan Service 7 “James W. Radelet: ceeceration fl oe : , Upports This . RADELET & COMPANY sarristers & Solicitors Community Tax Law © Ti Fe oe ‘ : ial Service. ax Law © Trusts ¢ Corporate & Commercia : . 1390 - 1075 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, B.C. 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