Doctors in High River upset over lack of plan to reopen town’s hospital
Flood forced some patients to Edmonton
Doctors in High River are upset the province’s health authority has no definite plans yet to reopen the flood-ravaged town’s 100-plus bed hospital.
Ailing patients and seniors were evacuated as far away as Edmonton and the facility’s operating rooms and medical wards were shuttered a month ago when the southern Alberta community was inundated.
Dr. Adam Vyse, a veteran doctor at the hospital, said both the facility and its staff are now ready to resume normal operations, but a top bureaucrat with Alberta Health Services was non-committal in a meeting this week about when or if that will happen.
“The indecision is poison, like the mould that’s been growing in the flooded homes here,” Vyse said in an interview.
“The real issue is patient care and the fact people in this town need to know that if they rebuild, there will be a hospital.”
He said Dr. Francois Belanger, AHS’s senior vice-president and zone medical director, was peppered with questions by the hospital’s staff of 18 doctors during a meeting Monday about the facility’s fate.
“I can’t count the number of times or ways he was asked, but he didn’t answer,” Vyse said.
“We’re sending a letter to the
The indecision is poison, like the mould that’s been growing in the flooded homes here HIGH RIVER HOSPITAL DR. ADAM VYSE
Minister of Health, the premier and anyone else who will listen asking for an end to this uncertainty.”
AHS spokesman Don Stewart said Wednesday he was unable to reply to written questions from the Herald or arrange an interview with Belanger.
“Will get back to you tomorrow,” Stewart said in an e-mail.
Wildrose Leader and High River MLA Danielle Smith said she had written to Health Minister Fred Horne Wednesday asking him to quell rumours the hospital will be mothballed, but so far she has received no response.
“I hope it’s not true,” said Smith, “but if it is, it means AHS will use any tragedy and any excuse to close down rural hospitals.”
Attempts to reach Horne for comment were unsuccessful. An Alberta Health spokesperson indicated the minister was in transit to a provincial premiers meeting in Ontario.
Since the waters have receded, AHS has started providing urgent care services at the facility, although the emergency room and obstetrics ward remain closed, as well as the operating theatres.
Hospital officials — who the Herald agreed not to identify because of their concern they would be fired — said the minor damage to the facility’s ground floor during the June 20 flood has been repaired.
But they confirmed local managers are still awaiting word from AHS on when the hospital can start admitting in-patients to the facility’s 32 active care beds and 75 nursing home spaces.
Deryle Mullaney said his 93-yearold father was one of 14 residents of the hospital’s long-term care floor flown to Edmonton in the wake of the disaster.
Mullaney said his father is now staying at that city’s Hardisty Nursing Home, where he complains about the quality of the food, receives infrequent medical attention and was rushed to hospital for stitches to his head Wednesday after falling out of bed.
“He’s losing weight and he’s quite sullen, so the sooner he’s back in High River, the better,” he said.
“We’re trying to be patient waiting because it’s been a hard time for the whole town.”
A recent analysis by Canada’s public broadcaster rated the High River facility as one of the top three small hospitals in the country.
But Vyse worries the medical and nursing expertise that led to that high ranking will disappear unless staff know their services will be needed again, and soon.
“We’ve worked hard to recruit people and provide quality care,” said the 18-year veteran of family practice, “but a lot of that could be lost nearly overnight.”