Dear editor,
My personal concern with the whole Island Health situation trying to cut back health care hours, is that they should have just left it alone.
If they cut hours and someone literally has a medical emergency and needs to be transported by ambulance, the closest hospital is 45 minutes away, and with this time of year with high winds and snow and 45 turns on the Port Alice road, it is not fun at all. There is always trees down at this time of year and icy patches at times.
Last year or the year before, the ambulance got a call and left town and got stuck at the bottom of 21 mile hill because the roads weren’t plowed, so when an ambulance comes to a tree being down or gets stuck and can’t get by and there is a dead zone for their radios, they’re just supposed to sit there while the patient in the back could possibly die?
We have a doctor in town every week, and we should be thankful and take advantage of what we have in a small town. There is a lot of old people in this town and lots of people with health problems. My grandparents are 75 and 76, what happens if they fall or have a heart attack, then what?
Suing Island Health could be a possibility, but good luck winning against a public body. We have lost enough in this town and we shouldn’t have to have hours cut back with something that people rely on the most in this town.
Spencer Smith,
Port Alice