After years of mismanagement by the former NDP government, health care services are now improving across the Kootenays.
More funding for the Interior Health Authority: a $124 million increase since 2001/02.
More patients are getting care in the region - services are being strengthened to ensure that residents receive more specialized care in their own region, rather than have to travel to places like the Lower Mainland for care. Between 2000/01 and 2003/04, 131 fewer individuals had to be sent out of the Kootenays for treatment.
Overall, 86% of all cases requiring specialized treatment in the Kootenays are receiving that treatment in the region, close to home.
This is real progress.
New and Improved Facilities for the Kootenays
· Improved regional health care: East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook is now a regional centre of services for the East Kootenays. This has resulted in greater success in recruiting and retraining physicians.
· $2.8 million in new Operating Room equipment at Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson and the Creston Valley Hospital.
· Increased capital funding to enhance maternity services at Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson, and $1.8 million in additional hospital improvements.
· Created the Kootenay Boundary Critical Care Transport team – five registered nurses and five advanced life support paramedics based at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail to provide faster, more expert care from a new team of specially trained paramedics and registered nurses
· Ambulance stations in Creston and Castlegar will be staffed by paramedics 24 hours a day to improve local response times through a new provincial paramedic deployment model.
· Developing a primary health care organization in Kimberley.
· Opened Sparwood’s primary health care centre to serve residents of Elk Valley.
· Opened primary health care centres in Kaslo and New Denver (2004).
· New replacement CT scanner at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail.
· New replacement CT scanner at East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook.
· New mobile MRI machine shared across the Kootenay and Okanagan region (the first time MRI service has been available in the region).
· New $12 million Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS) for the region.
· Telehealth videoconferencing services newly available in Castlegar, Creston, Kaslo, Kimberley, Nakusp, Nelson, New Denver, and Trail.
· Since 2001, dialysis services have increased in: Trail, Creston, Grand Forks, and Cranbrook,
· New nuclear medicine camera is being installed in Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail.
Health Professionals
· More doctors and specialists:
o In 2002/03, Interior Health physician total was 1,187: 768 general practitioners and 419 specialists.
o In 2003/04, Interior Health physician total was 1,220: 791 general practitioners and 429 specialists.
· Nine specialists have been recruited to East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook over the past two years, and 3 permanent and 2 locum family practitioners
· Five new specialists have been recruited to the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail, including two general surgeons, one plastic surgeon, one anaesthetist and one radiologist.
· Two specialists and one permanent and five locum family practitioners in Creston.
· 20 nurses have received ICU/Critical Care nursing care because of increased ICU and OR capacity at the hospital in Trail.
Home and Community Care
· Investing in renovations to upgrade the following facilities to accommodate complex care clients and provide a better and safer environment for seniors’ care:
o $539,000 at Henry Durand Manor in Golden;
o $1.7 million at Kimberley Special Care Home;
o $3 million at Swan Valley Lodge in Creston, which includes redevelopment of 30 resident rooms and general mechanical and other building upgrades; and
o $3.5 million at Columbia House in Invermere, which includes the addition of 15 residential care rooms and shelling in another five rooms for future need.
· 50 new residential care beds and 10 assisted living units at Rocky Mountain Village in Fernie.
· Opening new assisted living residences in 2005/06 in Creston and Invermere.
· 5 new residential care beds at the Victorian Community Health Centre in Kaslo.
· 15 new assisted living units at Castle Wood Village in Castlegar.
· 30 new residential care beds and 26 assisted living units at Rose Wood Village in Trail.
· Investing in upgrades to the following facilities to accommodate complex care clients and provide a better and safer environment for seniors’ care:
o $323,000 at Victorian Hospital in Kaslo; and
o $3.2 million at Columbia View Lodge in Trail.
· Developing a 9-bed convalescent care program in Trail.
· Opening new assisted living residences in Grand Forks and Nakusp in 2005/06.
· Providing seniors and people with disabilities with more options for affordable housing and personal care services in Grand Forks through the conversion of Boundary Lodge into 17 assisted living apartments.
Mental Health
· Opened one tertiary rehabilitation and one specialized residential geriatric bed at Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home in Cranbrook.
· Opened McKim Cottage, a six-bed short stay crisis/stabilization treatment mental health facility in Nelson (2002/03).
· Opened three tertiary residential beds and three tertiary rehabilitation beds at Harbour House in Trail.
