Dear Citizens of Princeton
Good Day Folks!
You may have noticed in the last issues of both our local papers in town that Save Our Similkameen donated funds to the Save Our Hospital Coalition.
Why would we do this? After all, isn’t SOS an environmental organization?
Of all the work the SOS does, we can not forget why we do advocacy.
It’s simple, and selfish really - We advocate for people who choose to live rurally. So our kids have a healthy environment to grow up in. So future generations have a choice.
Let us make no mistake and be clear that underneath the heated debates over health care in rural B.C., rural residents right to choose where we live is being unfairly dictated by the withdrawal of medical services.
If you are a senior citizen with any kind of medical condition you know what I’m talking about. I
If you are an expectant mother, live with a chronic condition, if you have ever had an accident that required emergency medical services or require a doctors attention, you know that it is almost impossible to live where you cannot access fundamental and vital medical services.
As most of you may have heard, the emergency hours of our hospital have been cut back. In 2000 we heard phrases like over-utilization, cross-coverage and creative solutions.
What PGH had then What PGH has now:
- 20 beds
- Proposed cuts: 8 beds
- Beds cut: 14
- Actual remaining as of 2012: 6 beds
24-7 ER coverage
- Proposed cuts : 32hrs per wk
- Cut: 128 per month
- Actual remaining run time:82.8 %
Doctors on call:4
Doctors on call as of 2012: 1.5
Will small townships that service the rural residents of this province be able to economically survive with regionalization of our health care?
So folks, speak up now, or watch our rural hospitals become another extinct species.
Sol Allison
Save Our Similkameen
Princeton