June 1, 2008
The Vernon & Districts Taxpayers' Association will present the petition to the Provincial Government concerning equity funding for Vernon Jubilee Hospital on June 6th 2008 outside Vernon City Hall at 10:00 am.
The Vernon Jubilee Hospital, a regional hospital serving the North Okanagan - Shuswap, is consistently on purple alert because of inadequate funding. The situation at VJH has become unbearable and unacceptable to all citizens in the region and we believe this state of affairs is pervasive throughout our Province.
The signatures on this petition send a clear message to Premier Campbell's Government that action is needed immediately.
The taxpaying voters in the North Okanagan and the Shuswap want their regional hospital to be adequately funded to serve their communities efficiently and with dignity. Although Vernon is the third largest city in the IHA, acute care beds and operating rooms are not fairly funded. Vernon is also the largest city in BC without an MRI scanner. This lack of funding is based on the false assumption that VJH serves only Vernon, Lumby, Armstrong and Enderby.
Our Petition proves that VJH serves as the regional hospital for some 140 000 people and should be funded proportionally.
We are calling on the Campbell Government to fund VJH according to the true population it serves and increase operational funding for acute care beds, permanent nursing staff, operating rooms and an MRI.
We are calling on the Campbell Government to provide for acute care beds, operating rooms and permanent nursing staff in the design of the new diagnostic and treatment tower.
Taxpayers are no longer prepared to put up with being treated like cattle and forced to sleep in corridors and closets! Nor are we willing to stand by and have a private company dictate the design of the Tower for which the taxpayers of the North Okanagan - Shuswap are paying 40% of the capital costs.
This invitation to attend our petition presentation is being extended to: Mr. Tom Christensen, our MLA; Hon. George Abbott, Minister for Health; Adrian Dix, Opposition Health critic; Debra MacPherson, President of the BC Nurses' Union; representatives of the doctors and CUPE; all the local media and press as well as the Vancouver Provincial media. We are inviting all candidates from every political party who will be contesting the next Provincial election to attend on June 6th at 10:00 am outside Vernon City Hall. We are also inviting representatives of seniors' organizations from the Schubert Centre and the Halina Centre in Vernon.
We look forward to seeing citizens of the North Okanagan - Shuswap who can come out on June 6 at 10:00 am in support of Vernon Jubilee Hospital.
Contact:
Antony Stamboulieh
antonystam@shaw.ca
Tel: 250-260-1082
No comments:
Post a Comment