Dear Editor,
So now we can’t go into the Flin Flon General Hospital emergency department during certain medical emergencies (“Pepper-sprayed women couldn’t enter hospital,” The Reminder, Aug. 19).
At first blush, it appears that the ER staff had no idea of how to handle this incident, with the RCMP acting as the front-line ER care providers for this situation. I wonder what would happen if a patient presented with something really nasty such as an infectious disease. Would they have to wait on the ramp until their malady became non-infectious?
On Feb. 26 a friend suffered a serious injury to his hand. He was admitted into the Flin Flon General Hospital, where he was attended to by the surgeon who happened to be there.
The injury was treated promptly, with the skill that we expect from our medical professionals. He was subsequently transferred to Winnipeg, where reconstructive surgery was performed, all to the highest standards. In his case the medical profession is to be commended and the services available lauded.
This person was very fortunate. Had he suffered his injury during the periods Sept. 14 to 20, 2014, or Dec. 24 to 27,2014, or Jan. 19 to Feb. 5, 2015, or Feb. 20 and 21,2015, he would have been out of luck. No surgeon was available during these periods.
At best his injuries would have been stabilized and he would have been evacuated by air ambulance to another facility before his injuries could have been adequately treated. Time involved from injury to treatment: four hours minimum. I would suggest that time is of the essence to successfully treat any injury. Perhaps the attending physician schedule should be publicly posted a month ahead so that emergencies can be timed accordingly.
On Feb. 7, 2015, a woman collapsed at an evening church service. I spoke with several people who were there. A physician was in attendance and an ambulance called to take her to the hospital. About an hour later people were still waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
But we have been assured by the Northern Health Region (NHR) that a new centrally located ambulance station would significantly improve this service to our community. Otherwise, why would they have spent about a million taxpayer dollars on a new ambulance facility?
We no longer enjoy consistent health care in our community. Emergency surgical care should not be available on a hit-or-miss basis. Recommendation: Make sure that you schedule your accident when there is a surgeon available.
There hasn’t been a single public utterance from NHR management about the bear-spray incident. Has it even been looked at internally? Will changes be made? Or will this be ignored until a “formal complaint” has been issued?
The NHR continues to provide assurances that our health is well looked after in our region. Given the high level of staffing and manpower in administration, we should have stellar services looking after our health needs.
And we have been assured that it will get even better once the new ER facility has been built. If staff cannot be provided for the existing department, how will the NHR meet the requirements of the new ER? Real evidence has shown, contrary to some opinions, that having a shiny new facility will not attract new staff to our hospital.
There was a time when we could be assured that we would have consistent health care in our community. When one could get a permanent family physician to look after his or her needs on a continuing basis. When we didn’t have a bloated bureaucracy removed from actual health care delivery.
We may be getting a new ER facility, but only the same old, inconsistent service as is currently being delivered will be provided, with no accountability to the users.
Thomas Heine
Flin Flon
