A fairly tame affair turned into a rallying cry for improving health care in northern B.C. when Prince George Dr. Bert Kelly took to the stage at the annual Dr. Bob Ewert Memorial Lecture and Dinner on Saturday night.
With two area MLAs among the 520 people looking on at the Civic Centre, Kelly called for the establishment of physiotherapy program at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and construction of a full-fledge auditorium for medical students at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia (UHNBC).
After committing to a two-year, master's level program that would have admitted 20 physical therapy students in the fall of 2009, the provincial government backed away in favour of adding those seats to the existing 80 at the University of British Columbia.
Although the 20 would comprise a "northern cohort" and spend 30 per cent of their training in northern communities, Kelly said that is not good enough. Basing the program in Vancouver will fail to draw practitioners to northern B.C., makes it more expensive for the students and will do nothing to build UNBC into "the university we all want it to be," he maintained.
On the auditorium, Kelly showed a video clip comparing the 200-seat facility at Kelowna's hospital to the portable at UNHBC.
"There has been total silence on this subject, not a word, despite all our efforts," Kelly said.
In a speech moments before Kelly, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad also called for a full-fledged physiotherapy program at UNBC and in an interview expressed qualified support for an auditorium. There are plans in place, he said, but if it comes down to a choice between an auditorium and a new hospital in Burns Lake, Rustad said he will support the new hospital.
Kelly did have two "stars" to go along with his two "dogs."
He gave kudos for the progress so far on establishing a rehabilitation centre to quicken recovery from trauma, stroke and surgery although he also there's work still to complete.
"The planning is done and it is now time for Northern Health to proceed with implementation," he said. "[Northern Health chief executive officer] Cathy Ulrich, we will be watching."
And Kelly had accolades for an ongoing effort to reform primary care across the region. The Northern Medical Society remains committed to publicly-funded medical care, Kelly said, but added "it has to be sustainable, therefore it has to be affordable and therefore it has to evolve with the times."
Kelly also noted Northern Health now has an interventional cardiologist in place, an initial step towards allowing agioplasty and stent insertion to be performed at UNHBC.
"There must be someone here tonight who has been admitted with severe angina or a frank heart attack and who knows the anxiety of having to wait five or six days in UNHBC before transport to Vancouver or Kelowna," he said. "It's not good for patients and it's not good for bed utilization."
