MP Rachel Blaney demands federal action on the health-care issues in her riding

North Island – Powell River MP Rachel Blaney has written a letter to the Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, demanding the federal government take steps to address the health-care crisis in her riding and in similar rural and remote communities.

“Our health-care system is falling apart at a profound rate, and our citizens can no longer rely on emergency rooms and other facilities to provide much needed medical care,” Blaney wrote. “The situation in the riding I represent is disgraceful. Hospitals throughout the North Island are unable to meet demands.”

Citing a drastic increase in the number of nursing vacancies in B.C., as well as the lack of doctors at various hospitals in her riding, Blaney said she feels the government has ignored and dismissed the needs of remote and rural Canadian communities. This has resulted in a health-care crisis that could easily become an economic crisis, Blaney warned.

“People will not want to move into regions that do not have consistent, reliable access to health-care services. Employers will have more trouble attracting skilled workers and it will become even more difficult and unsafe for residents to stay in their home communities.”

Noting that the B.C. government is providing critical funding to stabilize health care services, Blaney said smaller communities need solutions that bring them more health care workers. She urged the federal government to partner with the provinces to find ways to train and recruit more health care workers, recognize the skills of people with international training who are currently barred from working in health care, and encourage health care workers to move to rural and remote communities.

“I hope you will agree with me that residents of communities like those in North Island – Powell River deserve better than to have their ERs closed at night and their health and safety put at risk,” Blaney wrote. “They deserve the same access to life-saving care that those who live in large cities have. This government has the resources to take action, but it continues to ignore and dismiss the nuances of providing health care in such communities.”