Faircare Alliance is advocating for improved tertiary healthcare services for the central and north Island regions. (Faircare Alliance)

By Ian Holmes

dire message

Advocacy group demands improved healthcare for mid and north Island

Apr 10, 2024 | 5:25 AM

NANAIMO — Inequities in tertiary healthcare services north of the Malahat is the focus of a formally launched advocacy campaign.

Well-known Nanaimo-based health advocate Donna Hais unveiled Faircare Alliance, formed to become the voice of healthcare advocacy in the community.

“You’re going to see lots of billboards that look like this: the distance is killing us,” Hais told Nanaimo City Council during an impassioned Monday, April 8 presentation.

WeNeedHealthcare.ca went live this week, while several highway billboards are in the process of being installed to draw more attention to what advocates call a severe specialized healthcare deficit on Vancouver Island north of Mill Bay.

Hais cited a lack of capacity and specialized services at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH), which she said serves 460,000 people, more than those living on the south Island.

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She said a new hospital tower with 600 beds for necessary tertiary programs is needed now.

Hais said a record-high 425 patients were admitted to the aging 346-bed hospital just prior to Christmas.

“I can tell you that in February and March, we hit those numbers again. It was not an exception because it was the coldest time of the year, it’s becoming the norm,” Hais said, stating these problems will only get worse given the region’s fast-growing and aging population.

Donna Hais addressed Nanaimo City Council on Monday, April 8. (City of Nanaimo)

She said the central/north Island areas are far below standards for cardiac care.

‘We have two cardiologists in Nanaimo versus 22 in Victoria. There are two cath labs in Victoria, there are zero servicing north and central Island.”

Coun. Ian Thorpe, who chairs the Nanaimo Regional Hospital District (NRHD) applauded the formalized advocacy efforts to demand whoever’s in power provincially to provide better healthcare north of the Malahat.

“It is absolutely scary, and I think unfortunately most people don’t have that realization until an incident happens that forces them to face that reality,” Thorpe said.

A new patient tower and cardiac catheterization lab are two unfunded projects prioritized by the NRHD, which is obligated to provide 40 per cent of the capital funds.

“Currently, if you have a child in crisis who needs a psychiatrist and you live in central or north Island, the wait is a year to get your teenage or young child help from a pediatric psychiatrist. It’s wrong,” Donna Hais (Faircare Alliance)

Meanwhile, a status update is expected in the near future for a vastly improved cancer clinic to be built at NRGH.

A Ministry of Health statement on Jan. 31 to NanaimoNewsNOW said the business case for the Nanaimo cancer centre project is complete.

“We hope to be sharing more details soon,” the statement read.

While the scope and budget for the Nanaimo cancer centre isn’t yet known, the ministry stated the facility is expected to offer radiation therapy, an outpatient ambulatory care unit and a net new PET/CT machine.

“Construction will also include a new radiation-treatment space with four shielded treatment rooms for high-energy radiation-treatment linear accelerators, which deliver high-energy X-rays or electrons to the region of a patient’s tumour,” the ministry stated.

Faircare Alliance branding like this message will be noticeable as healthcare advocacy ramps up. (Faircare Alliance)

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes