Editor's note: An error that stated the incorrect opening hours has now been corrected.
BOYLE – After numerous incidents of the Boyle Healthcare Centre’s emergency department being forced to close for the night earlier this year due to a lack of doctors, the facility will now be closed every night for the month of July starting at 8 p.m. and reopening at 9 a.m. every morning “due to high vacancies among nursing staff and an inability to secure sufficient temporary coverage.”
“This will allow existing staff to provide consistent service each day, during the times when over 85 per cent of emergency department and outpatient visits occur,” stated an Alberta Health Services (AHS) letter sent to Boyle community stakeholders June 30. “Inpatient admissions will be paused.”
Village of Boyle mayor Colin Derko appeared as an urgent delegation near the end of Athabasca County council’s June 30 regular meeting to discuss the healthcare situation in the village and surrounding counties, and what can be done about it, as the hospital serves the area directly between Athabasca (44 km), Lac La Biche (66 km) and Smoky Lake (77 km). These are also the healthcare centres where EMS will take emergency patients during the night, if necessary.
Facilities in Swan Hills and Wabasca are experiencing similar, temporary schedule changes, while sporadic night closures have not been uncommon at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre in recent months either.
“I guess I’m just here to bring you guys up to speed on what's going on and what I know so far, and in my opinion, it's extremely disturbing just because anything to do with health services and interruptions in health services, I feel we live in a province where that shouldn't happen,” Derko told county councillors, saying he had received the official notification from a senior operating officer with AHS at 10:30 that morning.
“So, we do not have, for the month of July, any acute care in our hospital. Anybody that was hoping to stay in the hospital for whatever reason, can’t because they're only open for 12 hours a day.”
Derko said he has spoken to provincial officials, including Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken, but has generally been unsatisfied with the response and results.
“Obviously they understand the seriousness, but it seems to me it's almost like if it's not happening to them personally, it's not really happening. They've acknowledged it and they're not happy about it and they don't know what's going to happen,” he said, encouraging all the elected officials in the room to grab the ear of any government official they may come across to let them know how unacceptable the situation is. “I’m hoping that we can have a united message among our three municipalities.”
There was certainly no disagreement among councillors there.
Reeve Brian Hall reminded everyone there is currently a leadership race in the United Conservative Party, the winner of which will be premier until at least the next election.
“There's a provincial leadership campaign on right now, and it's very likely that many of those people will be through our areas, and quite possible that we'll be able to, in whatever capacity you go, be present at some of those events and barbecues,” he said, agreeing full-heartedly with the notion of a united and persistent message.
Coun. Ashtin Anderson, who represents the Boyle and Caslan area of the county seriously wondered about the amount of time residents were given regarding the closure.
“If you're coming out to the lake for the weekend, and you're not on the Advocate’s Facebook page, and your father has a heart attack? That makes a significant difference if you get to Boyle and suddenly the hospital is closed, and you didn't even know about it?” she asked the room.
As an aside, the Athabasca Advocate has yet to receive a notification of any sorts from AHS about the temporary closure as of the morning of July 4, nor has it been posted to the AHS page of temporary facility bed/space reductions, while news releases for facilities in Cold Lake and Spirit River were posted June 30.
Coun. Camille Wallach sits on the recently formed regional healthcare attraction and retention committee and said one of the points the committee is trying to get across to Rural Health Professions Action Plan (RhPAP) members is to lobby the Minister of Education to create seats at Alberta medical schools specifically for local, rural students to help fill the gaps left by those retiring from the medical professions.
“Unfortunately, this is not going to be a short-term fix, so it's going to be a hard go in the next couple of years,” she said. “We’re going to have to look for creative solutions within AHS.”
“I, for one, do not want to see that hospital shut down for one hour, let alone one month. I worry that perhaps one month turns into two months turns into three months, and maybe even more, which would be devastating to the area for obvious reasons,” Derko said.
“We are thankful for the support of surrounding healthcare centres and medical staff and would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding during this time,” stated the AHS letter to community stakeholders.
“AHS continues to aggressively recruit healthcare professionals for rural areas. AHS has several initiatives underway to help support recruitment efforts including northern incentive programs as well as working closely with practicing professionals and the community. The Alberta Rural Health Professions Action Plan is also in place, aiming to improve rural medical services for communities, support rural practitioners and recruit new talent.”
