Hospital Petition Collects Nearly 18-Thousand Names

Starlee Speers Astral Media Radio (Vernon)

A petition calling for more funding for Vernon Jubilee Hospital has collected nearly 18 thousand signatures. Tony Stamboulieh of the Vernon Taxpayers Association which authored and circulated the petition says, the concerns of the community can no longer be dismissed. "People are concerned about the Grandmothers, or Granddads or babies being left in a hospital corridor or closet. That is a very grave issue." Health critic for the NDP Adrian Dix was at the presentation and took a box of the copied petitions with him. Dix says, the petitions reflect a broad spectrum of the community who have been let down by local government representatives. The Okanagan-Vernon MLA says he's disappointed he couldn't make it to the petition presentation this morning. Tom Christensen says he's not surprised however at the number of signatures collected. "I'm not surprised actually that there's that many signatures. I think if you have a petition that's in support of your local hospital I'd be very surprised if you didn't get a large amount of signatures." Christensen says, he's going to hand the petition over to Health Minister George Abbott at the first opportunity.