Friday's announcement of physiotherapy training starting at UNBC in September 2020, followed by an occupational therapy program two years later, is a huge win for Prince George, UNBC and residents of the northern and central interior.
For Terry Fedorkiw and the other 104 physiotherapists in the region, it is a huge relief. While it won't benefit their current patients, it will make a huge difference in the years to come.
As a Citizen story in late 2017 pointed out, Northern B.C. has the fewest physiotherapists per capita of anywhere in B.C., with nine communities offering no access to publicly-funded physiotherapists. Furthermore, B.C. is the worst province in Canada for annual investment in training seats per capita.
At that time, Fedorkiw and the members of Physiotherapists for Northern Communities were asking the new NDP government to increase UBC's physical therapy program - the only one in the province - from 80 annual training seats to 100.
B.C. Advanced Education, Skills and Training Minister Melanie Mark exceeded that request. UBC will oversee 120 training seats, with 20 of them based in Prince George at UNBC.
Furthermore, the government pledge to add 20 more in the Fraser Valley, starting in 2022.
So much for the notion of inadequate provincial government investment by John Horgan's government in the Prince George area, where a six-hour drive is required to reach the nearest NDP MLA.
Despite the fact that longtime Prince George Liberal MLA Shirley Bond, as well as Mike Morris and Pat Bell before him, worked for years to get dollars out of the Liberal government for physiotherapy training in Prince George, the credit for making it happen instead of just talking about it will go to the NDP.
That will be a bitter pill for the area Liberal MLAs, especially since they have been beat up for years about it every spring by the medical community at the annual Bob Ewert fundraising dinner to benefit the Northern Medical Programs Trust.
Now the trust will be able to offer scholarships for locally trained physiotherapists and occupational therapists, as well.
The investment will pay off huge dividends to Prince George in general and UNBC in particular.
Area students who looked at other health care career paths because of the inability to stay in the region to complete their education and build their practices can now pursue those opportunities far cheaper and easier than having to relocate to Vancouver.
The health care outcomes will also be substantial. Doctors and nurses focus on primary care while physiotherapists and occupational therapists provide that essential ongoing care needed to help stroke victims and people injured on the job or in vehicle accidents - to name just a few - as they try to recover from their injuries and adapt to their temporary or permanent physical limitations.
As the local and regional population continues to age, with more and more of the Baby Boomer population retiring, addressing both the lack of area physiotherapists and the inability to train at UNBC will substantially improve the quality of life for area residents.
Now about that surgical tower at UHNBC...
- Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
