Editor:
I cant believe what is going on with our health care services today.
I was chair of the Burns Lake hospital for several years and I was fired by the NDP government of the day when hospital boards were discontinued.
At that time we had an account for donations for specific purposes and that account has now been lost.
At the time it's balance was well over one hundred thousand dollars and Northern Health cant account for it.
After reading Paula Van Tine's letter, it prompted me to write this letter.
It seems everything in the Burns Lake health care system is going south.
It looks like all Burns Lake is going to have is a diagnostic centre and no operating room. Which doctor would want to set up a practice without an operating room?
Room for only four doctors with no office room to grow.
No more babies born in Burns Lake, isn't that something to make you want to live in Burns Lake?
A fully fledged drug store in the hospital - at what cost? And is this to drive the three drug stores we now have out of town?
What small minds we have at Northern Health.
The cost of a pharmacist, if we can get one, is well over $150,000 I'm sure, but its okay as Northern Health will pay for this.
It's our money and we will be paying, rest assured. Northern Health is slowly removing equipment out of our hospital.
Did you know that first a brand new ultra sound machine was moved from the hospital. Now they are starting to take vital equipment out of the operating room which was paid for by local residents through donations.
We could not perform a surgery in this hospital today, it's really bad.
They have a new operating table which was bought by the health auxiliary and I'm willing to bet it's also going to be moved out in a short while. What is the point in keeping it? The new hospital plans do not show a room large enough to have an operating room.
I would caution all residents of Burns Lake to make there concerns known or we might just as well accept the fact that Burns Lake will no longer have a hospital.
I sat on the lawn of the B.C. legislature for 10 days to keep our hospital open at the time the doctors went on strike and I'll do it again. Let’s hope we can get our hospital back on track. Thank you, love you all,
Paul Jean