Vernon lineups felt here

Salmon Arm Observer Apr. 23

Code Purple: Surgeries delayed in Salmon Arm. They may be calling Code Purple in Vernon Jubilee Hospital, but Shuswap Lake General Hospital had beds available this weekend. Code Purple describes a situation in which there are more patients than beds, apparently a common occurrence in Vernon these days. “At the VJH, Code Purple is a more than a frequent state with the average patients in acute care beds per day being 132,” says Kay Stamboulieh of the Vernon and District Taxpayers’ Association in a press release that also advised a patient was recently sent to Salmon Arm for an appendectomy. “The Vernon and District Taxpayers’ Association urges people to sign and circulate the petition to Gordon Campbell’s government to increase funding for acute care beds, operating rooms and permanent nursing staff,” says the release. “Individuals, groups and businesses in the North Okanagan-Shuswap are urged to put out petitions in their locations.” At present, these are several Vernon-and-area signing locations with some promised in the near future for the Shuswap.

But Dr. Warren Bell, president of the medical staff at Shuswap Lake General Hospital, says when he admitted a patient Sunday night, he was told there were beds available. Bell says it is common for patients in need of hip or knee replacements to be held up in Salmon Arm because there is no room in Vernon. He offers high praise for Dr. Chris Parfitt, who came to Salmon Arm from Vernon and, despite his qualifications and expertise can only do limited surgical procedures because of a lack of equipment. Bell says there was a time when doctors and staff at Shuswap Lake Hospital thought the facility would be shut down or turned into a “way station” for other larger hospitals. And although that has not happened, he says, this community seems to continue to lag behind others in terms of services and equipment. “There is still a sense that other communities are pushing the envelope, maybe some empire building, and we haven’t caught up,” he says. “There are old folks that line ER for days waiting for hips and knees (surgeries) and we keep shipping them out. “The answer is not Vernon. Just equip us with the devices we need.” Bell says Parfitt is a good and experienced surgeon, who would save the system time and money if he had the necessary equipment with which to perform the more complex hip and knee surgeries here.