People from Ladysmith to Parksville packed the Beban Park Social Centre to demand a new $1.7-billion patient tower and $100-million cardiac catheterization lab at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
The Fair Care Alliance rally Thursday, Sept. 12, was standing room only, as community members heard from health professionals about the dire situation for Vancouver Island patients north of the Malahat.
One of those was Dr. David Coupland, former head of radiology at NRGH, who warned that heart health treatments at NRGH don't meet "acceptable standards."
"[Percutaneous coronary intervention] which is when they open up the arteries in a cardiac cath lab within two hours is the standard of care for heart attacks worldwide…" Coupland said. "That will save three lives per hundred with big heart attacks and it will also prevent the epidemic of congestive heart failure that we have up Island. We have an epidemic with that, and that significantly reduces life years and the span of your life, and that's what we're faced with right now."
In order to get a patient tower and cath lab, the region is responsible for funding 40 per cent of the build, while the province is responsible for the remainder.
Ian Thorpe, chairperson of the Nanaimo Regional Hospital District, said the hospital levy has increased to show the province that the region is willing to pay its share.
"We have spent the past three years identifying capital priorities, developing a financial strategy, forming an advocacy plan that involves working with a number of community partners," Thorpe said. "We identified five major projects we felt were crucial to address the increasing medical needs of the region and the north Island's growing and aging population."
While he said the region has made progress with a new high-acuity unit and plans for a cancer centre and more long-term care, progress is lacking on the two most important projects.
"First, a cardiac catheterization lab at our hospital. We are the largest region in the country without a cath lab for heart treatment. We cannot provide operations here so patients have to be transported to Victoria or elsewhere when time is of the essence for stents or bypass surgery. They cannot be performed here, we do not have the facility to do that," Thorpe said.
Second is a new patient tower that could help alleviate overcrowding.
"We serve a population north of the Malahat of over 400,000 people, the building is old, it is functionally obsolete and unsafe, it no longer meets the standards, and again, that makes it difficult to attract doctors to our region," Thorpe said.
Candidates from the B.C. Green Party and the Conservative Party of B.C., as well as Parksville-Qualicum's independent MLA Adam Walker attended the rally. Each signed a pledge to support fair health care on Vancouver Island and work with other elected officials toward a cardiac cath lab and patient tower at NRGH.
Those who signed the pledge for the Greens included candidates Shirley Lambrecht, Nanaimo-Gabriola,and Lia Versaevel, Nanaimo-Lantzville. For Conservatives, candidates included Brett Fee, Ladysmith-Oceanside, Dale Parker, Nanaimo-Gabriola and Gwen O’Mahony, Nanaimo-Lantzville. Walker signed the pledge as an independent for Ladysmith-Oceanside. No candidates from the B.C. NDP were in attendance.
Hais said that if community members want to help the cause they can visit http://weneedhealthcare.ca/get-involved to sign the petition, volunteer or find out more information.
"We want today to be about understanding the situation, getting your facts right," Hais explained. "When you talk to your family members, when you talk to those other people in your community, and when you vote on Oct. 19, make sure that your voice is heard because we're not asking – we're demanding that there's a change to our health care."
Sean Wood, a city of Parksville councillor as well as a member of the RDN and regional hospital district boards, attended the rally and told the News Bulletin that people have to make sure all provincial parties understand that the NRGH has needs that have to be met.
"The message I'm taking away is there's a lot of support for this. This room was standing room only, it was hot in here, there was a lot of people in here, hundreds of people, it has public support – that's the message I'm taking away."
Earlier in the week, Mark Holland, federal minister of health, spoke to the News Bulletin while in Nanaimo for the Liberal caucus retreat. He said he was aware of the group and is open to that sort of advocacy.
"It makes a lot of good change, so I would say, keep up the fight, make sure you lean in," he said. "It's really important to advocate for what you think you want your country to be and what you want care to look like."
