The NDP's health critic will be in Vernon Friday for the hospital petition announcement. The group that organized the campaign, the Vernon Taxpayers Associaiton, will be announcing how many names were collected. The petition calls for more provincial funding for beds, nursing staff and operating rooms at VJH. Adrian Dix, the MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway, says its wrong that the local MLA's have decided not to attend the event, but he advises them not to ignore the results. Dix tells KISS FM, "They'll do so at their political peril because I think the people of Vernon are tired of the BC Liberal government allowing this situation to continue without action. I think people want a response." Dix says VJH has become ground zero for health care issues in BC, with nearly 50 code purples this year. Meantime the health critic says efforts by Armstrong to retain its doctors boils down to more than just money. Dix says more doctors need to be educated in BC, and then they have to be able to focus on health care, instead of financial issues. "So that's a real struggle and I think increasingly, for communities like Armstrong, Clearwater and Princeton, we have to focus government resources on them to ensure people have the primary care they need. If people have good primary care, then hopefully they can be treated before their illnesses become more serious and they have to go to hospital." Dix says he plans to find out more about the Armstrong situation during a visit to the city later this summer.
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