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Birth service cut despite protests, meeting

NOTE: The original version of this story misattributed a quote to Jo-Val Klasson. The quote and context has been removed. The Reminder regrets the error. The clock has struck midnight for obstetrics and birth care in Flin Flon. As of 8 a.m. on Nov.
Obstetrics
Members of the “We Want Birth” group, including Christine Lussier, Nikita MacKinnon, Jen Hughes and Jan Unruh (from left), hold a protest outside Flin Flon General Hospital on Nov. 16. - PHOTO BY ERIC WESTHAVER

NOTE: The original version of this story misattributed a quote to Jo-Val Klasson. The quote and context has been removed. The Reminder regrets the error.

The clock has struck midnight for obstetrics and birth care in Flin Flon.

As of 8 a.m. on Nov. 18, Flin Flon General Hospital will no longer provide birthing services unless under emergency circumstances. The shutdown, according to the Northern Health Region (NHR), is temporary and will be revisited after the development of a provincial women’s health and clinical services plan, likely to take place in 2019.

The obstetric shutdown has garnered attention outside of Flin Flon, becoming the subject of multiple news stories and at least one debate in the Manitoba Legislature.

Within the community, resistance to the announcement has not been hard to find. A group of concerned Flin Flonners, calling itself “We Want Birth,” has organized events to call attention to the obstetrics cut.

A public meeting was held at the Eagle Rose Holistic Healing and Teaching Lodge on Nov. 13, attended by more than 100 concerned residents, as well as local and provincial politicians.

NHR CEO Helga Bryant was absent from the meeting, but NHR board chair Cal Huntley, serving in his capacity as Flin Flon’s mayor, did attend.

MLAs covering both northern Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan communities – Tom Lindsey and Doyle Vermette – were in attendance and discussed the news of the closure.

“We need to realize that this isn’t just a Flin Flon problem. Because Flin Flon is a regional hub that services several other communities, we don’t have answers as to what’s going to happen with all of those folks who would traditionally come to Flin Flon and give birth to children. We’re going to try and follow up on those issues as well,” Lindsey said in his introductory remarks.

The Flin Flon MLA also announced he would be circulating a petition in the city to protest the obstetrics cut.

Vermette said he had sent a letter to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Remote and Rural Health in an effort to determine how the that province plans to deal with the closure. More than half of the approximately 150 births at the Flin Flon General Hospital last year involved families and mothers from Saskatchewan, often from Creighton, Denare Beach or outlying communities in Deschambault Lake, Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay.

Organizer Nikita MacKinnon detailed the potential costs of a two-week family trip from Flin Flon to The Pas for a birth, running into the thousands of dollars for expenses such as food, hotels and other related charges. MacKinnon said the Northern Patient Transportation Program (NPTP) would cover some costs – particularly, those relating to transit – but not all, potentially leaving families with substantial bills.

After presentations on prenatal health and the effect of stress and pre-birth anxiety on mother and child by Jan Unruh and Keely Patterson, a public question period took place.

Issues involving Manitoba and Saskatchewan document transfers and physician and medical personnel recruitment were discussed immediately.

“All of my babies were delivered by local doctors,” said Creighton resident Moira Davis, to a volley of cheers.

“I’m looking around my community and I just want to cry, you guys,” said Penny Janvier.

“I’m a retired nurse and I see my former coworkers, I see my grandmas and grandpas, the babies I helped deliver. I worked in the hospital for 30 years and worked in Pelican Narrows and Nunavut. I never thought in a million years that this would happen to our community… We have to get proactive right now. There’s no time to waste.”

It didn’t take the crowd long to begin addressing questions directly to Huntley, one of few NHR representatives at the meeting.

“Certainly, I’m not happy with the direction that we’ve had to go in, from the health region’s perspective,” he said, adding that a general practitioner can conduct some obstetrical duties, but only after additional training.

Huntley said that the move, which he emphasized was temporary, was done as a protective measure for mothers and babies, not due to budgetary constraints.

“Right now, the reason the service has been temporarily – temporarily – suspended is because we haven’t been able to recruit the skill set that we need to maintain those services. It has nothing to do with dollar cutbacks or anything like that. We are actively recruiting and looking for those services. Bottom line, we don’t want to put mother and baby at any sort of a risk,” said Huntley.

“It’s going to change a little bit and people may have to travel for the interim. The idea is that they can do it in a safe, planned fashion so that they can know what’s going on. In saying that, if an emergency takes place, it will be dealt with at the Flin Flon General Hospital. They will be assessed, and if need be, they will be delivered at the Flin Flon General Hospital.”

The Flin Flon General Hospital had a full-time, locally-based obstetrician on staff until 2017. Since the doctor’s departure, obstetric services in Flin Flon had often relied on locum obstetricians, leaving gaps in service and conditions that were deemed inhospitable by a recent external review.

The issue of medical staff retention, including not rehiring an obstetrician, was brought up often.

“We did [have an obstetrician] at one time. That’s one of the things I’m so confused about. Where did they go? They’re leaving, but there’s a reason why they’re leaving,” Nicole Kendrick told Huntley.

“You can’t tell me that some of this isn’t down to finances.”

Huntley repeated that the cut was not made to save money.

“We don’t have the people to provide the services. We did, but we don’t now,” he said.

“I think the inquiry needs to be, ‘Why don’t we anymore?’” said Kendrick.

Huntley responded, “That’s part of the recruitment challenge for the north. It’s not just a Flin Flon issue, it’s an issue all over the place.”

Other attendees questioned why obstetric care was cut at a time when the Flin Flon General Hospital emergency deposit is undergoing a multi-million dollar rebuild and renovation, as well as why physicians and medical professionals have either left Flin Flon or choose to work elsewhere.

In an online statement, the NHR denies claims that the obstetrics service cut has a link to the emergency department.

Other attendees focused more on the issue at hand, saying that transporting expectant mothers more than 140 kilometres to the nearest obstetric department in The Pas could itself be a health risk.

At the end of the event, Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton, herself the mother to infant twins, spoke about issues with the closure, saying the move was “unacceptable.”

“As a new mother myself, I feel very strongly, on a personal level, how unacceptable this change is,” she said.

“Flin Flon is a proud, historic community. It has had a hospital since 1938. A community like this, a regional hub for communities in our north, in northern Saskatchewan, for some of the most challenged First Nations communities across our region, should not have its obstetrics shut down.”

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