Health PEI attacked over ambulance service
Future of dialysis service in rural areas also raised
Bringing health care to local communities is a priority, Health PEI executives said at the AGM Wednesday night, but rural Islanders were on hand to question that commitment.
In front of about 200 health care professionals and members of the public, Health PEI's interim CEO Dr. Richard Wedge laid out the organization's goals for the coming year.
"We want to enhance access," said Wedge.
"We want to re-emphasize primary care, and as much as possible, bring that care to the local communities."
That was not a claim Souris Mayor David MacDonald was willing to accept quietly.
"We want to know when you're going to do something to improve and enhance the quality of ambulance service so our first responders, our fire department, aren't running around every second day, answering a call," MacDonald asked the board.
MacDonald said the increase in medical calls to the Souris Fire Department is costing the town up to $8,000 a year.
Wedge said Health PEI has been encouraging volunteer fire departments to become medical first responders, but he will take concerns about increased costs to municipalities back to government.
The board also took some heat over a plan to close dialysis services in Souris and Alberton, centralizing those services in Charlottetown and Summerside.
"Was the decision to centralize the dialysis units and force elderly patients to drive over an hour in a very weakened state a difficult one?" dialysis patient Nathan Bushey asked angrily.
"They are difficult decisions obviously, not made lightly," Wedge responded.
"But at the end, we need to try and provide the most care we can in the most efficient manner for most people."
The government announced in the spring it was shutting down the rural dialysis centres, but that closure has been delayed following public pressure. A final decision on the Souris and Alberton centres is still pending.
That decision, and others regarding health care in the province, will be made within the context of tight budgets, the Health PEI meeting heard.
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