The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
January 13, 2009
YOU WANT TO STICK THAT THERMOMETER WHERE?
If you haven't already heard, there's going to be some (more) changes at Princeton hospital.
The official word from Interior Health's South Okanagan Health Services Department is this:
"There is a new Provincial Rural Locum Program for all rural communities in the Province funded by the Ministry of Health. All rural communities are expected to follow the locum program guidelines and Princeton will follow the guidelines as directed by the Provincial Government starting February 1st."
What I'm hearing is that it boils down to a money issue (from what I understand, a cut in pay) which looks as if we could very possibly lose the doctors currently working under the locum program.
Interior Health tells me this:
"We are diligently trying to ensure physician coverage for Princeton."
So you have to decide what's really true and what's really going to happen.
I can understand the concerns coming from the side that feel there's a very real possibility that coverage will be lost and another service gets flushed down the drain for Princeton, but I think we also owe it to Interior Health to not point the finger at them and try somehow to be part of the solution rather than throwing mud.
I know, it's not like me to defend IH, but I do think Julie Fleming has touched on not a bad idea. In her letter to the editor (see elsewhere on this page) she lists a number of e-mail addresses of people you should be contacting.
I think we should be contacting these people and pushing for improved service to all rural hospitals and not just our own as (noted above from IH's Lorraine Ferguson) the new Provincial Rural Locum Program is intended for ALL rural hospitals and not targeted to Princeton alone.
We need to remember this when we fire off our e-mails and maybe if all parties listed receive a flood of complaints they'll get the message that at least one rural community has had enough and demands the Province and Ministry treat us all with the same kind level of service rather that making cuts to small town services.
