Posted on 10/10/2009 9:09:53 AM PDT by buccaneer81
Kidney patient must make three trips a week to Saint John for dialysis, while a unit sits idle 10 minutes from her home A1 By Jim Dumville
Helping her mother travel more than 1,200 kilometres each week to secure life-saving medical procedure, while the necessary medical equipment sits only a few kilometres away, has become a major source of disbelief and frustration for a Woodstock businesswoman.
In a detailed letter addressed to political and health-care officials and members of the media, Woodstock's Kelly Atherton outlined the lengths she and her family must go to ensure her mother receives dialysis treatment.
"In January of this year," Atherton wrote in the e-mailed letter dated Oct. 1, "we learned that my mother was in kidney failure. Since then, we've been travelling the road between here (Woodstock) and Saint John – over 400 km round trip – in preparation for her to be able to do her dialysis at home."
Because of medical complications, Atherton said, her mother is currently in Saint John Regional Hospital. But even if her mother were well enough to be home, she added, she still would not be well enough to handle the extensive travel required for treatment.
"It's now looking like she will require hemodialysis – which as it stands right now, we will need to travel to Saint John three days a week – a total of more than 1,200 kilometres per week – 52 weeks a year," Atherton wrote. "She is not well enough to beat up and down the highway that often, and winter is coming."
What makes the travel demands even more frustrating for Atherton and her family is the fact that dialysis equipment sits only 10 minutes away at the Upper River Valley Hospital (URVH) in Waterville.
"We have equipment in our own backyard gathering dust," Atherton wrote in the letter addressed to any politician or health care official she though could help her cause.
Atherton noted the URVH dialysis unit is being used only three days each week, leaving four days a week in which its sits unused. As a result, the waiting list of patients in the area grows longer.
She said her mother is sixth on the waiting list.
"Six families travelling 2.5 hours to hospital, four to five hours of treatment, then 2.5 hours home," Atherton wrote.
That, she added, does not even take into consideration the rest stops or the comfort level of the patient.
Atherton said the plight of her mother and the five other people on the waiting list demonstrates the "190,000 square-foot, 70 bed, most modern health-care facility in the province" – as described by government and health officials when it opened two years ago – is not delivering the services promised.
The Woodstock woman said she is at a loss for a logical reason why the URVH dialysis unit cannot operate more than three days per week when it is so obviously needed.
Donald J. Peters, president and CEO of Horizon Health Network – formerly known as Regional Health Authority B (RHA-B) – understands Atherton's frustration. He was one of the recipients of Atherton's letter.
"The lady's story is sad, real and raises valid concerns," Peters said Tuesday afternoon during a visit to URVH.
Currently, he said, the needed funding is not available to operate the dialysis unit more than three days per week. He said Horizon Health Network is looking to the province for the funding required to operate the unit six days per week, pointing out that would handle most of the current waiting list.
"Proposals have been put into the government," he said, "but they haven't responded yet."
While medical staff have to be trained to operate the dialysis unit, Peters is confident URVH has enough staff to add the shifts needed to operate six days each week.
"But it costs money to double the service," he said, adding those funds must come from government.
While she would not confirm the government received the proposal from the Horizon Health Network, a health department spokesperson said there's no reason to doubt Peters' word that such a proposal was delivered.
Regardless, added Department of Health communications officer Sonya Gilks, a decision on such a proposal could not be made until the budget is released. While the budget is usually delivered in the spring, she noted, Premier Shawn Graham promised his government will release next year's budget earlier than usual – in December of this year.
"(The proposal) will be judged during the budget process," said Gilks, offering no promises the funds will be made available.
Peters noted the URVH dialysis unit operation provides an example of the funding pressures and decisions, health officials must battle on a regular basis. He noted officials continually contend with the ever-rising cost of health-care delivery.
"We've got to manage and deliver services smarter," he said.
Peters noted some Upper Valley residents are forced to travel all the way to Saint John because the funds are not available to operate more than three days per week in Waterville and the dialysis unit at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton is booked to capacity.
Any decision is evidence based with regards to patient safety, he added. He noted several options were reviewed prior to making a proposal for funding to deliver dialysis service.
"Is it better to open three more days (at URVH) or operate 24-7 in Fredericton, or even provide the service in Grand Falls?" Peters said as an example of the types of questions officials must consider when searching for the most efficient way to deliver services.
Speaking from her home Wednesday evening, Atherton said, she has yet to hear back from any government or health-region official in response to her letter. She said Opposition Leader David Alward left a message that he received her letter, but they had yet to discuss the issue with her.
As a result, the words Atherton used to open her letter continue to describe her "sense of urgency, disbelief, frustration and great concern."
Canada ping.
There's the problem.
Governments can't "figure out" the most efficient ways to do things. That's what only the free market can do. Holly
“Peters noted the URVH dialysis unit operation provides an example of the funding pressures and decisions, health officials must battle on a regular basis. He noted officials continually contend with the ever-rising cost of health-care delivery. “
Gee, I thought government control REDUCED costs. Folks, this what you get with government bureaucrats making life and death decisions for you.
There is a dialysis center in Presque Isle Maine that would be happy to service these Canadian patients. It’s about 84 km away.
God Bless America.
Mrs.AV
What is he talking about when he says “the needed funding is not available?”. It’s supposed to be free. Surely you are not suggesting that health care employees would be motivated by money? This is socialism.
In the US, with its mean old greedy system, that question would have been settled long ago by the free market and this woman would have her dialysis ten minutes away.
No number of "government officials" would be capable of making all those decisions effectively.
Gee, I thought government control REDUCED costs. Folks, this what you get with government bureaucrats making life and death decisions for you.
Oh, I'm sure it does reduce costs, at least monetary ones to the government.Of course if the savings result in the death of your mother, you might be forgiven for viewing those "savings" with a jaundiced eye . . .
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