Photo: Contributed Port McNeil Mayor Gabby Wickstrom appears on a screen of the “Rethinking Health Care” panel at the Association of Municipalities meeting of K.B.E. in Whistler. Port McNeill Mayor Gaby Wickstrom, whose North Island city has been hit by rotating emergency closures over the weekend, applauded fellow mayors Wednesday for passing a motion calling on the province to take urgent action to keep ERs open 24 hours a day throughout BC. The resolution at the meeting of the Union of Municipalities of K.K.E. in Whistler is also calling on the province to increase funding and training opportunities for health professionals to “ensure appropriate and necessary” levels of care. “All we can do is support, but it will help us to know that the Association of BC Municipalities will be at the table,” Wickstrom said. Municipal officials representing nearly 200 local governments are gathering at UBCM’s annual conference at the Whistler Convention Center this week. The conference concludes on Friday with a speech by Prime Minister John Horgan. One of the most anticipated events of the week was a panel discussion with Health Minister Adrian Dix on Re-Visioning Health Care, but some in attendance felt the vision was the same as they had heard for years. Both urban and rural communities face health care pressures ranging from rotating emergency room closures to shortages of doctors, nurses, and emergency responders and operators—all in the midst of two public health emergencies: the pandemic and the overdose crisis drugs. Dix told the mayors the province has added 38,000 health care workers. The health department said Wednesday that more surgeries were performed in the week of Aug. 7-13 than in the same week in 2019 — 6,365, up 356 — and that the number of MRI exams was 69 percent higher than last fiscal year. than in 2016 -17. The volume of ambulance calls has increased significantly during the pandemic. In 2021-2022, there were 2,232 ‘purple’ or highest priority calls for an ambulance in the island’s health district, up from 1,793 in 2019-2020. read more Do you have an opinion? Send it to [email protected] Sep 14, 2022 – 6864 votes Should cities get Big Pharma settlement money to deal with the opioid crisis? Yes: 4466 No: 1857 Uncertain: 541 September 13, 2022 – 8125 votesIs the federal government doing enough to help Canadians? Yes: 2050 No: 5539 Uncertain: 536 Sep 12, 2022 – 9390 votes Should the province force municipalities to provide more housing? Yes: 4341 No: 4201 Uncertain: 848 September 10, 2022 – 14221 votes Should Canada remain a constitutional monarchy or become a democracy? Constitutional Monarchy: 6316 Democracy: 6416 Uncertain: 1489 September 8, 2022 – 12261 votes Should Canada mark the Queen’s death with a national holiday? Yes: 6045 No: 5638 Uncertain: 578
