BOYLE – Although new nurses have been lined up to work at the Boyle Healthcare Centre, the facility won’t resume normal operating hours for a while longer.
During the July 19 Village of Boyle council meeting, mayor Colin Derko mentioned in his report that he had attended a July 18 meeting with Alberta Health Services (AHS) representatives, along with other municipal leaders.
“We wanted to let AHS know that when we’re talking about our community, we’re really talking about all four,” said Derko, who was joined at the meeting by Athabasca County reeve Brian Hall, Town of Athabasca mayor Rob Balay, and Lac La Biche mayor Paul Reutov.
“What’s realistic for one of our communities’ hospitals might not be realistic for another, but we all understand that that’s just how we’re going to have to get things done.”
The Boyle hospital has been on reduced hours since July 1, 2022, when a nursing shortage forced administrators to close the hospital overnight.
Currently, AHS is waiting on two foreign nurses to complete their training, which will help shore up the staffing crisis.
In a July 21 interview, Derko was able to provide additional information about where the process was at.
“I was told today that they had just received confirmation that there are two nurses, with names and faces, who have signed their contracts and are scheduled to come to Boyle,” said Derko. “The thing right now is immigration; paperwork is holding things up.”
Once the nurses do arrive in Canada, they’ll have a training period where they’ll learn AHS’ procedures and policies; medically, the nurses are at the same standard as Canadian nurses, but there are things that AHS does differently that will need to be passed on.
“We’ve got different ways of doing things: computers, laws, etc. They’re all fully capable nurses, but it’s that other stuff (they need to learn), which should take a couple of weeks in Edmonton.”
Of course, Boyle is a bit of a unique situation; since there isn’t always a doctor present in the facility, the nurses have a little additional responsibility, and aren’t as specialized as a nurse might be at a hospital in the city.
“The good part is that you have to do everything, and the bad part is that you have to do everything,” said Derko. “When you’re in Edmonton it’s all specialized, but when you’re here, these nurses are everything. Some nurses love it, because they get to do everything, but it’s harder because they have to know everything as well.”
Since the timeline is now out the hands of AHS, they didn’t provide a date when normal operating hours are expected to resume; according to the information Derko received, even if the nurses had arrived last week, normal operating hours wouldn’t resume until the fall.
“At the end of the day, it’s coming … It’s hard for people, and I get it, the frustration is there,” said Derko. “The thing that I can say for sure about the provincial government and AHS (is that) they’re a victim of process just like us. Not once have I run into something where they had a negative outlook, or someone has said, ‘I don’t know how this is going to get done.’ It’s exciting and scary for everybody. I’m not happy about the timing, but I understand it.”
