By Lyonel Doherty
Two frustrated residents from Oliver and Osoyoos are working together to keep South Okanagan General Hospital a sustainable health care facility.
Audrey Mayer and Kelly Hall are planning a public meeting to gather feedback and ideas on how to make the hospital a viable community resource. But due to the current focus on the coronavirus pandemic, they want to wait before setting a date.
Mayer is hoping it is sooner rather than later.
“We want the community to send a message to all levels of government that the hospital needs to be operating at full capacity with fully staffed doctors and nurses at all times.”
She noted the current situation where the emergency department is subjected to temporary closures with patients referred to Penticton, which is “unacceptable.”
Mayer said it’s time people’s voices are finally heard by the government, which is not doing anything to correct the situation.
Health Minister Adrian Dix was in Oliver in January to help celebrate the opening of the new emergency department, a project that cost nearly $1 million. But on March 8, Interior Health announced its temporary closer due to a lack of doctor availability.
Part of the problem is recruiting new physicians, while the other is pay equity with doctors in Penticton. The Ministry of Health previously rejected an application for better compensation for Oliver doctors who cover the emergency department.
Mayer said the Oliver hospital has lost a lot of services over the years, such as surgery and maternity. Now, patients are often referred to Penticton Regional Hospital for treatment that can’t be performed here anymore.
“There is no acceptable reason for South Okanagan General Hospital not to be running as a full functioning hospital.”
“We have great doctors and nurses but that is not enough.”
Hall said it is imperative that the community has a conversation about ways to mitigate further closures at SOGH.
“If we say nothing, nothing will change.”
Hall, who lives in Osoyoos, recounted one incident when she had to take a family member to the hospital due to a seizure. When they arrived, she was told they didn’t have a protocol to deal with that because he was a cancer patient.
“They asked me to take him to Penticton, but during the drive he was very confused and tried to jump out of the car.”
Hall said the Oliver hospital should have been equipped to deal with that medical crisis.
“I felt that I was left to my own devices to get him there (to Penticton). It was just a scary situation.”
She was advised to take him to Penticton, otherwise it would be some time before an ambulance could take him. So, she decided to drive there herself.
“What if it was a little old lady and her husband? There are a lot of people with health issues here.”
One Oliver resident, who moved here from Vancouver, said he was turned away from South Okanagan General Hospital around midnight last fall after he suffered a bad cut to his hand. (He told his story on condition that his name not be used.)
“I went in there and it was like a ghost town. I went all the way to emergency without seeing anyone.”
A lady came around the corner and asked how she could help, and then covered her mouth when she saw the man’s injury. She then informed him he would have to go to Penticton for treatment (eight stitches).
The man said once he arrived at Penticton hospital, he was asked why he didn’t go to the Oliver facility. (Because he was told to come here.)
“If I didn’t have someone to drive me to Penticton, I probably would have bled out,” the resident said.
At some point overnight his wound opened up again, so he went back to Oliver hospital in the morning and was treated at that time.
He still can’t get over what happened.
“I was blown away (that night). Why was it just a lady and a janitor there? At first, I didn’t think it was a hospital. I’ve never been turned away before.”
