Northern Health Care Stands Tall

In the North, we often require different health care programs  to meet our needs, especially if those needs take us away from home.

Starting in April, the BC Family Residence Program provides a per-night subsidy for each family with a child at BC Children’s Hospital for up to 30 days per stay. In addition, Hope Air and the Shriners of British Columbia and Yukon each received annual grants of $500,000 to build on existing ground and air transportation assistance programs.

And no discussion of health in the North would be complete without talking about the new hospital coming to Fort St. John. The new Fort St. John Hospital and Residential Care facility is state-of-the-art and will be a crucial component of the continuum of care available to residents across the north east.

It is an exciting time for our region as workers and their families migrate to the area for the tremendous opportunities that northern B.C. offers. Quality health care is a significant draw for those looking to make the move permanent.

As British Columbians,  we are very proud of our health care system. And we should be. We have one of the greatest health care systems in the world and it is accessible to all.

Here in British Columbia, we continue to make strides to deliver the best possible care.

Just this summer, in a national wait time report card from The Wait Time Alliance 2010, British Columbia received an ‘A’ in hip and knee joint replacement, cancer care, cataract surgery and cardiac care for the second year straight, showing a decrease in wait times for each of the categories.

To further build on that success, our government recently announced a new surgical wait times website, www.health.gov.bc.ca/waitlist, that gives patients the tools to make more informed decisions about their surgery waits, while helping to reduce overall wait times.

Surgical waits vary in each area of the province and the information on the website encourages patients to discuss their waits with their general practitioner, who can help them decide if there is a faster or more appropriate treatment available.

With a good ranking, great programs and first class facilities, northern health care stands as tall as the rest.

If you have any questions about health care, please call my office at 250 263 0101.

Pat Pimm, MLA