Flip back a few pages in this week’s paper and you’ll see the article we wrote this week in regards to the AUPE’s complaint about cytotoxin exposure at the Westlock Healthcare Centre.
This complaint was based on the reports of individual members, of which AUPE says there have been dozens, though not all at Westlock. (Vegreville, Cold Lake and Edmonton are included here.)
The main point we want to stress here regarding this editorial: please do not interpret this story as a warning to avoid the Westlock Healthcare Centre.
The AUPE is alleging that some of their members MAY have been exposed to a medication that has some harmful side effects.
We did not see the complaints that AUPE received from their members. We don’t know how or when this exposure occurred. We don’t know if the workers involved have experienced any adverse health effects. We know only what AUPE has told us, which isn’t a lot.
More generally, the union seems to be concerned with a lack of education for front-line staff about the adverse effects of cytotoxin medications and what to do if it occurs.
Cytotoxins are one of a whole plethora of medications that cause harm to healthy people. Their existence should not prompt you to avoid the hospital.
In any case, the AUPE has likely raised this complaint as part of an overall general effort to have a discussion about cytotoxin and how employees aren’t being educated enough about it.
The handling of harmful medications is an omnipresent concern in health care, but perhaps the AUPE has a very valid point here.
Maybe Alberta Health Services isn’t doing enough to warn employees about cytotoxin exposure or put procedures in place to deal with said exposure.
We’d agree with AUPE if that was the case.
Or maybe this is a one-time complaint and you’ll not hear another word about this in the future.
In any case, it’s no reason to panic.
