After hearing countless stories over the years about what residents with health issues have to go through in order to receive specialized care, it is never a surprise to hear when someone decides to move out of Powell River to get the help they need.
The lack of health specialists in Powell River is a chronic problem and one of the main drawbacks of resident retention and attraction to the area.
It is difficult enough to coax family doctors to come here, but our lack of specialists in geriatrics, paediatrics and other areas is a serious problem that has plagued this community for decades.
Powell River Division of Family Practice has used a provincial program called A GP for Me to attract more family doctors to the area, bringing the number of Powell River patients without doctors down from approximately 4,000 to under 1,500 in a two-year period.
Once at crisis levels, the lack of doctors is being addressed and most residents in the area now have primary care. Including new physicians, Powell River now has 24 family doctors. This is an encouraging step in bringing our care levels up to the standards a city our size requires.
The problem is most referrals from family doctors result in patients who have to travel to larger centres. The provincial Travel Assistance Program can be used to offset costs, but that does not include hotels, meals, loss of work and, more importantly, time and effort spent. It is common to hear of patients spending more than 24 hours travelling to a 15-minute specialist appointment. For those with severe health problems, travel can often exacerbate their conditions.
Even more alarming is that emergency patients with serious injuries or conditions are often airlifted down to Vancouver rather than treated onsite at Powell River General Hospital due to a lack of resources. Many have had their lives jeopardized by the hospital’s inability to treat patients.
Unfortunately, health care inequity between rural and urban cities will always be a reality, especially when transportation comes into play, as it does so prominently in Powell River.
Vancouver Coastal Health has been pushing programs that connect patients to specialists via video and phone, which could cut down on patient travel time, but those are just bandages on a health system that is so desperately in need of more funds.
Jason Schreurs, publisher/editor
