Opposition MHAs meet with Labrador-Grenfell Health to discuss regional health concerns

Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones, MHA for the District of Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair, and Marshall Dean, MHA for the Straits-White Bay North, met with the CEO of Labrador-Grenfell Health this past weekend to discuss health care issues important to both districts in the province.

Both MHAs said this meeting provided an opportunity to raise a number of concerns related to dialysis, specialist services, air ambulance, and ophthalmology services in St. Anthony; the health care facility in Flower’s Cove; new equipment for Roddickton; and social work vacancies throughout the region.

“We made a request to CEO Boyd Rowe to address a number of health care issues throughout our region,” said Ms. Jones. “While we did receive commitments on certain issues, we must continue lobbying to get greater action to address other inadequacies in the system. We certainly highlighted the concerns as it relates to the retirement of Dr. Fitzgerald and the necessity of continuity and expansion of surgical services in St. Anthony. There needs to be a full complement of surgical services for the future to ensure we have a strong and vibrant health care system in this region of our province.

“The issue surrounding social work vacancies and the difficulty in recruiting these professionals was also an important issue that was discussed, as well as the need to recruit an ophthalmologist to St. Anthony. There was also a good discussion on the need to improve and strengthen air ambulance service for the western, northern and Labrador regions of our province. A formal request was made at this meeting for a full trauma team to be stationed in St. Anthony to respond more quickly to emergencies, and I am hopeful that there will be action to strengthen this service for people living in our region.”

MHA Dean said he felt progress was made at the meeting and that action will be taken to address some of the gaps that currently exist in the region’s health care needs.

“Since the dialysis issue was raised by our party during the by-election, there certainly seems to be a greater recognition by Labrador-Grenfell Health that more investment is needed in St. Anthony to address the gaps that exist in this service. I was pleased that a commitment was given that a new dialysis machine will be purchased and installed in the near future. I will continue to monitor the progress of this commitment to ensure the people of our region are no longer forced to leave their friends and family to receive this necessary service.

“The Flower’s Cove health centre was also discussed and I certainly expressed my concern that there is no space currently allocated for emergency room services under the most recent configuration of the health centre. This is an issue that certainly needs to be addressed and I highlighted this point with the CEO during our meeting.”