If you checked the emergency department wait times online on Sunday evening, you would have seen a big red exclamation mark beside Squamish Hospital.
While the 2.32 hours to be seen and 3.18 hours to be discharged, listed on the website www.edwaittimes.ca, was less time than many other hospitals on the B.C. list, the red exclamation meant that the local emergency room was "abnormally" busy and potential patients were advised to consider going elsewhere, if possible. We know that our devoted local healthcare folks on the front lines are feeling the strain of our increased population in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
But the good news is, the health authority seems to have heard locals’ concerns and is working toward resolving them.
Just check out the recently published Health Vision Sea to Sky engagement report that outlines what was heard in Phase 1 of Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) engagement.
Usually, such documents are drier than Kamloops in the summer, but this one is worth a local read.
This phase of engagement focused on “asking people about critical gaps and challenges around current health services in the Sea to Sky Corridor, as well as future priorities and opportunities.”
It is validating, though not surprising, that the services engagement participants noted were most needed included more primary care, diagnostic imaging services, and mental health services.
“Residents of the corridor want to see a wider range of health services available locally, to reduce the amount of travel required to access services within and outside of the corridor,” reads the report.
Though beyond its scope of study, the report notes that our lack of public regional transit makes travel to appointments more of a burden for some.
More specifically, main challenges with healthcare in the corridor that were mentioned by Sea to Sky respondents—Squamish residents made up 64% of the respondents—were: the lack of access to a family doctor and/or nurse practitioner (70% of respondents); access to specialist care without having to travel (61%); access to diagnostic imaging services (48%); and receiving timely care for emergency issues (41%).
There will be more engagement to come this year.
Ultimately, VCH is developing an “integrated high-level” health services master plan for our region.
In the meantime, smaller but significant changes are already underway that make seeking medical help less scary or burdensome, such as newly available Indigenous navigators and more accessible parking at the hospital.
Of course, this does nothing today or next week for those of us struggling to access care or for our overworked medical professionals, but it is some comfort that concerns are being heard and that solutions are on the way.
