Ambitious plan unveiled for psych services THE TERRACE and Area Health Council has em- barked upon an ambitious plan to improve psychiatric services in the northwest. It wants to recruit three psychiatrists to be based here to provide around-the- clock services at Mills Memorial’s psych unit. and conduct community out- reach programs elsewhere. The plan comes at a - time when Mills has had to close the 10-bed regional psych unit because it can’t find a clinical director and a renovation project is Stalled because estimates came in above the projec- ted budget. Stili, health council chief executive officer Dieter Kuntz says the council has great hopes in finding three psychiatrists who wil! work here on a fee-for-service basis. “The statistics or data show there should be one psy- chiatrist per 9,000 people,” said Kuntz. “We do offer a regional referral service for an area of . 90,000 people. We do have two psychiatrists here al- ‘teady and Prince Rupert is recruiting one which makes three, but that doesn't come close to meeting the data,” he said. , The two psychiatrists in Terrace are in private prac- tice and aren’t directly connected to the psych unit. The three-psychiatrist recrvitment plan is part of a larger effort to better integrate the hospital-based psych unit with community-based mental health services across the northwest. At the same time, finding three psychiatrists will help the hospital’s finances because it won’t have to pay local doctors on the weekends to do physicals on pa- tienis prior to being admitted. _ Although the hospital gets about $150,000 a year in its budget from the province, plus money for the northern isolation allowance physicians receive to work in Ter- race, to pay local doctors for those physicals and other psych services it isn’t enough to meet demand. So the hospital then has ta use money from its gen- eral operating budget, putting a strain on other services. Mills is predicting a shortfall of approximately $100,000, not including northern isolation allowance add-ons, in this budget category to provide weekend medical service at the psych ward. cde In a normal year, that figure would have been’ hiigtier, “ -but since the unit has been closed since Jan. 1, there are " no patients to be admitted. ~- ‘Kuntz said the psychiatrists being recruited will have to agree to share off-hour and weekend duties. : “Tf they don’t agree they won’t be on staff with PvE 7 leges [at the hospital],” he said. tog biti aig ig a Although: the hospital has yet to find" a ‘clinical ‘dire 2. tor-a geneial practitioner with an interest in psychiatry .: “it is expecting short term relief next month. “>..-That?’s because an offshore psychiatrist being recrui- FINAL WINTER CLEARANCE | Up To 50” Off “Selected Items* Dieter Kuntz Featuring Bob Keele & Scott Dumas a ae On Graham Ave, ff. 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If the search for a clinical director continues to be t un- — successful, Kuntz said one of the three psychiatrists © being sought could be asked to fill that role part time. ., There's no estimate yet of when the hospital. will find _ the three psychiatrists, : A Canadian who is just finishing psychiatric training in the United States was here for a visit tast week, The health council’s selection committee meets early this week to discuss the candidate. | “Credentials aren't the issue. The committee will talk about the person to see if he can fit in here,” said Kuntz. - - Based on a successful evaluation, the health council “Will offer the person a post, he added. QO0O000 The health council has asked the provincial govern- ‘Ment for more money to start and complete a renovation . project at the psych ward. a Construction bids came in at nearly $630,000, or - . about 50 per cent more than the $427,000 budgeted. _ © The hospital wants to improve the kitchen and com- mon area of the ward and'build two “safe” rooms for pa- . ‘tients. .. “We haven’ t to reduced the project to reduce costs, _ We feel the project as Jaid out is necessary,” said Kuntz, Kidney unit inches Closer to reality JUDGING FROM a com- plicated January memo - sent out by the Prince - » George-based-Northern In- ..ferior Health Board, a kid- Mey dialysis unit for Ter- . face is getting closer to ‘final approval. aoe ]ts on a priority list al- : Yeady approved by the “Shealth ministry and now awaiting financial appro-. “val from’ the treasury” “board, the provincial “agency which controls the « government's purse strings. - s“Itis expected the pro-’ ij ject will move quickly and will ‘be an easy project to get started and comple- ed,” indicates the Jan. 29 ®MedicAlert :| ALWAYH ON CALL Once approved, the unit will be. a satellite to the regional one in Prince George and be located at Mills, , Mills won't charge rent, but will recover heating | and lighting costs, says health council chief exec- utive officer Dieter Kuntz. 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