Mayor Herb Pond to take Community health concerns directly to Health Minister Dix, as Council moves forward with its own health care initiative

"The Minister of Health is going to have the Mayor of Prince Rupert
pounding on his table saying, we've got to have solutions that work
for Prince Rupert" -- Mayor Herb Pond at Monday night's council session  

 City Council members made their first comments Monday night, related to a closure for eight hours over the weekend for the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital Emergency Department, with the Mayor and three of the city's council members speaking to the topic of note around town.

The Discussion on health themes was launched by Councillor Nick Adey, who first noted of the recent moves by the city to gather stakeholders together, asking the Mayor as to the progress es of the initiative.

"At our last meeting we passed two motions regarding bringing in some ideas and some brainstorming with other partners in the community, related to recruitment and retention in local health care. Specific to some concerns that have arisen around difficulty getting professionals to do the work here. 

And since then, you know the ER closed one night, which we at the time didn't anticipate,   and so the concern is definitely out there in terms of the public.

So what would like to do, recognizing that two weeks is not long enough to find people, get them together, have a conversation and solve problems.  I'd like more of a general question, we've put the wheels in motion, where are the wheels travelling to and how fast do we think that we're going to be able to get there." -- Councillor Nick Adey

Mayor Pond provided for a short update on the progress so far towards the civic initiative.

"A very appropriate and timely question. Staff have been working with all those other parties and it's quite a list as you know, to find a suitable date. Given the closure we're looking to move that earlier if at all possible.

That will be a discussion that takes place over you know a medium term right, it's just not something where it's going to address immediately the shortcomings, although  could be some short term solutions that come from that table that nobody's anticipating.

But you know the recruiting, retention work is going to take time"

Mr. Pond then addressed the Friday night/Saturday morning closure of March 8th/9th as part of his commentary.

"The closure brings an immediacy, it is very concerning, And as Council knows, we wrote a very strongly worded letter to just about anybody that is involved with health, saying under no circumstances can that facility close ...  and it did.

So I have asked staff to put me in contact directly with the Minister of Health Adrian Dix and I will convey to him personally that every stop has to be pulled out"

The Mayor then observed on the nature of the city's importance to the national trade program and how without a health care service, that is at risk.

"There is no value, there is little value in spending 65 million and 77 million and our money, then 200 million on upgrading water systems and replacing them  ... so that you know, as I often say the small city that hosts a big port can succeed so Canada's gateway can thrive and all that sort of thing, there's no point in doing that if the health care system isn't also up to speed." 

The Mayor noted of the questions people may ask themselves when thinking of relocating to a community and how the health care element is key calling it mission critical for the city.

"People ask themselves some very fundamental questions before they relocate to another community and you know the list isn't that long and on that list always is what kind of health care am I going to have for me and my family.

So this is mission critical, I believe it's mission critical to the Port of Prince Rupert, I believe it's mission critical to every industry in town, I believe its mission critical to every First Nations in our community.

And we will be aggressively making the case in front of the minister that all the stops have to be pulled out. That the very same argument that we placed in front of government, with regards to our water pipes, and let's not kid ourselves, while the work that was done by everybody was absolutely fabulous. It was work that hinged on saying that you need to treat us a little differently because, because we are hosting Canada's third largest port"

Mr. Pond then noted of the concern found in the community from recent events.

"Listen I've watched the Facebook posts. I appreciate that people are concerned that they're losing their doctor, they're concerned about access to the Emergency Word, they're concerned about all of the services available at the hospital. 

We have to bolster it in the short term while we work together with everyone in putting together a solution that works in the long term."

Councillor Adey followed up by noting of some of the work that the province and Northern health  has taken on to address health issues across the province along with its focus on the issues specific to the north.

From that the Mayor recounted some his review of the situation facing health care and the issues that make for its challenges.

Councillor Forster, who is a member of the health care sector in the community, noted of some changes to the executive lists at Northern Health in Prince Rupert and suggested that Council have them provide an update on the challenges and opportunities in the community.

The Mayor picked up on that noting that Northern Health is not the enemy but the city's partner and have offered to work with the city. Following up by expressing his gratitude for the work of health care workers in the community.

As a final note to the situation in Prince Rupert, Councillor Barry Cunningham noted while the city's problems are province wide issues, Prince Rupert has its own unique challenges.

"What is unique to Prince Rupert is our isolation to another hospital and if our ER is closed and they said contact ... if you have  a heart attack or serious industrial accident in Prince Rupert you're two hours away from the next ER. 

And that is unique to Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii.  

Yes we have a helicopter medevac here,   but even using that, its still a lot harder than just  going to the hospital and that's what makes our problem a little more unique than other communities. It's the fact of the  isolation of Prince Rupert, 150 kilometres away from the next hospital. 

And not only that, weather, highway conditions and a lot of other stuff enter into it. 

So you know, even when you are talking to Minister Dix, that's what makes our situation and our closure more unique, more dangerous than any other hospital, simply because of our isolation to the next hospital" 

The full discussion can be reviewed through the City's Video archive starting at the 34 minute mark.

Some notes on the city's initiative on Health Care can be reviewed below:

February 28 -- Immediate focus for the City of Prince Rupert health initiative is to ensure that the PRRH Emergency Department remains open always 

February 14 -- Councillor Nick Adey wants the city of Prince Rupert and community stakeholders to take the lead towards addressing range of health care issues in Prince Rupert 

A look at more notes from Monday's Council session can be reviewed here.

Health care times in the region are explored further from our archive page.