IHA Barely Answers Grand Forks Group - Part 3

Concerned Citizens for Community Health Care (Grand Forks, BC) met with IHA officials on May 23, 2012. Here are some of the questions asked, and some of the answers received.

We are concerned about quality control in the meals prepared in Vernon, trucked to Grand Forks and re-heated and then served to patients.   We are advised by those who have tried to eat them that they are very unappetizing.  In fact, an elderly friend of mine (now deceased) asked to go home as she was not able to tolerate this food.

We are also concerned regarding the cleanliness of laundry trucked to Nelson for laundering and then returned wrinkled with mould deposits, thread-bare and below the standard which should be expected.  Meal preparation and laundry was done in-house in fully functioning facilities.  When the decision was made to transfer these services out-of-town, jobs were lost and our business community felt the effects.

Inasmuch as these  2 issues are being brought to your attention for the second time, have you given consideration to bringing meal preparation and laundry services back in-house? Apparently, meal preparation is done at Boundary Hospital which was not the information given to me.  Halpenny and Embree had lunch there, and Halpenny opened his jacket and patted his “full tummy”.

They made no apology for trucking laundry to Nelson several times a week, and couldn’t provide an answer regarding the condition of returned items.  At any rate, there is no intention to bring laundry back in-house.

Boundary Hospital has an operating room that was renovated extensively in the last 10 years or so.  We hear on the news fairly regularly surgeons’ commenting about the lack of operating room time.  What is the possibility of a surgeon utilizing the operating room in Boundary Hospital for procedures such as a colonoscopy or a D&C for local residents?

The answer was no.

      In municipalities like Grand Forks that have a hospital, citizens are concerned that they     
      have no opportunity to comment on changes affecting their health care.  Would you 
      consider implementing a local advisory panel that would include members from all  
      areas served by the local hospital?  


      If so, would you be prepared to meet with them quarterly  via video conference to 
     discuss changes in services or levels of service proposed by IHA and to consider the  
     panel’s comments and/or recommendations regarding citizen concerns?  


     The answer here was that they would not; we should be meeting with their Director of 
     Acute Care.  Further, any citizen concerns should be brought to the attention of locally 
     elected officials who in turn will advise Interior Health.  I told Halpenny and Embree 
     that I was aware of that, and that I had told our Mayor not to touch that with a 10-foot  
     pole as those complaints would be lodged at the front counter with city staff who have  
     much better things to do with their time.