Dr. David Forrest, a specialist at NRGH, spoke at length to a large crowd on Thursday, Oct. 16, about patients he's had die as a direct result of being unable to properly treat them at Nanaimo hospital due to a lack of cardiac care options north of the Malahat. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

equal care

‘He died because he did not have access:’ push renewed for cath lab, NRGH patient tower

Oct 17, 2025 | 5:38 AM

NANOOSE BAY — Yet another clear and direct message has been sent to the B.C. government: mid-Islanders won’t tolerate inadequate primary healthcare.

Around 250 people gathered at Nanoose Place Community Centre on Thursday, Oct. 16 to again make an empassioned plea to push the provincial government for commitments on election promises of a new patient tower and catheterization lab at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH).

Dr. David Forrest, an NRGH infectious disease and critical care specialist, told the story of a patient of his this past week who arrived at the hospital’s emergency room in the mid-afternoon with a heart attack.

“He got the clot busting drug. It didn’t work, and next thing you know, his blood pressure was falling rapidly. They tried to resuscitate him and he got worse, his heart stopped. We spent 40 minutes trying to resuscitate that patient…he died. He died because he did not have access to a heart catheterization here in Nanaimo.”

A table highlighting the gap in resources available for residents south of the Malahat, compared to elsewhere on Vancouver Island. (Fair Care Alliance)

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Level of care
Numbers presented by Fair Care painted a grim picture on the healthcare landscape for residents north of the Malahat.

Around 400 patients are treated at NRGH daily, with the facility only having 354 available beds, meaning a large number are waiting and receiving care in hallways, storage closets and other unconventional areas of the hospital.

In the last year, the number of cardiologists working in Nanaimo hospital dropped to one, a new recruit, with two others working in community.

Victoria hospitals have 26 cardiologists on staff, according to Fair Care.

Dr. Forrest said the widening gulf in quality of care is causing people to die prematurely, noting current medical research suggests a finite window to properly treat heart attack and related conditions.

He added the “clot busting drug” was developed around 50 years ago, and administering it is no longer taught in medical schools because catheterization is an updated and more effective procedure.

“You’ve got only minutes to open up that blood vessel, 90 minutes you have to be able to access that procedure, and it’s only if you have access to it locally that you can benefit from it. It doesn’t matter how many cath labs there are in Victoria, without a cath lab here, it won’t be accessible,” Dr. Forrest told the captivated audience.

The current setup means only those living in Duncan and areas to the south can receive the required care in the recommended time, roughly 40 per cent of the Island’s population.

Dr. Forrest said a cath lab in Nanaimo would double the number of people covered and serve residents from Campbell River to the north, Port Alberni to the west, along with the entire central and south Island areas.

Around 250 people attended the event in Nanoose Bay on Thursday night. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Where are we at?
Dr. Forrest criticized Island Health for dragging their feet in addressing this issue, saying it has been “a litany of promises and a legacy of failure over 20 years”.

He said the then-CEO of the health authority promised in 2006 appropriate cath services would be in Nanaimo within 10 years.

Studies commissioned in 2006, 2010, 2013, 2024 and this year all outlined how badly the service was needed, according to Forrest.

He suggested efforts exist to work against improved advanced care in Nanaimo, saying some Island Health representatives had said “you chose to live in Nanaimo, you get the care you deserve.”

Dr. Forrest said a cardiology program base needs to be established prior to a functioning catherization lab program taking effect in Nanaimo.

“We need to build it before they (cardiologists) will come, that is very clear.”

Chair of the Nanaimo Hospital District Board, and Nanaimo city councillor, Janice Perrino told the crowd increases in taxes over recent years have gone directly to a growing reserve fund.

The Board is responsible for 40 per cent of all healthcare-related capital expenditures in the region, with Perrino suggesting they were ready to move immediately.

“There was a comment made by one of the other MLAs, ‘Well you just get in touch with us as soon as you’ve got $100 million in the bank’. Well, guess what, by the end of this year we will have $100 million in the bank, so bring on the project,” Perrino said.

Estimates suggest a cath lab will cost a minimum of $40.5 million and could be built and opened within three years.

“I don’t care if it’s $80 million, we’ll pay it up front if we need to. That’s what our tax dollars are about. We have made it very clear, no matter what it takes, that is the first phase. But I will not sign off on the money for the cath lab unless they agree at the same time to do the hospital tower expansion.”

She said one is useless in addressing the quality of care gap, without the other, as more hospital beds, operating rooms, imaging rooms and other specialized spaces are required for a rapidly growing population.

Ladysmith-Oceanside MLA Stephanie Higginson (centre) speaks Thursday night on government response to healthcare concerns at NRGH. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Where’s the provincial government?
Premier David Eby, during a stop in Nanaimo around three weeks before the provincial election, promised a new patient tower for NRGH if his NDP were re-elected.

The party comfortably won all four mid-Island ridings, encompassing communities like Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Ladysmith and Port Alberni.

Eby’s promise came two weeks, almost to the day, after the Fair Care Alliance hosted a rally in front of around 350 people at Beban Park Social Centre, which aimed to pressure representatives of both major parties running in the provincial election to act on Island healthcare.

Ladysmith-Oceanside MLA Stephanie Higginson spoke at Thursday’s event, pointing to work the governing NDP is doing behind the scenes.

She highlighted Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, which aims to streamline the process for large capital projects, allowing them to move quicker.

“People want to see something tangible, and I understand the desire to want to see something tangible. This is, like we’ve said, about a 10 year process before the doors open, and before something appears in the budget there’s about five or six steps, and each one of those steps is about 12 to 18 months.”

Cries of “that’s six years” came from multiple people in the audience.

Higginson later clarified the province is on step three, involving creation of a business case, something the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation has said they could finance immediately if needed.

Foundation CEO Barney Ellis-Perry said it could cost between $3.5 and $5 million, however Perrino said she’d been told around $10 million.

Higginson added after a 12 to 18 month business case phase, the project would then go to the Treasury for another 12 to 18 months before being included in any budget.

She also said she’s had several conversations with the minister of infrastructure, Bowinn Ma, and made introductions to local officials to further plead NRGH’s case.

Upgrading the hospital is reportedly the number one item on Island Health’s capital projects list.

Fair Care Alliance chair Donna Hais (left) moderates an open panel involving audience questions on Thursday. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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