BC's new health minister is well aware of the overcrowding concerns at Vernon Jubilee Hospital, but at this point, his ministry is not ready to commit to new funding for more beds. Mike de Jong met with Vernon doctors for about an hour today as part of a tour of the new Polson Tower. He made no commitment to funding two shelled-in floors on top of the new building, but said it will be looked into. "We're going to look at the capital component to this, and at the same time, look at the operating component, because you have to have both. It's 20 million dollars to complete both floors and probably in the neighborhood of 15 million dollars a year to operate them in terms of staff." MLA Eric Foster says the doctors made a good case to the minister for more beds but it comes down to funding. "It's that delicate balance between what the needs are, and what the cheque book will allow." Interior Health board chairman Norman Embree is taking a wait and see approach. "I think we have to see how this works out.This is going to be a lot better run with this sort of facility, and I think we need to see how it sorts itself out." De Jong says the fact that Vernon is his first outing as the new minister is a clear signal of the importance they have for the facility, the staff and the services provided."I can assure you of this, MLA Foster and I and the ministry team, are going to sit down and determine what can be done, what feasible." Foster says discussions are ongoing about two or three opportunities with the new facility. "The good thing about the new floors is that there's two of them. You don't have to do the whole thing at the same time. There's 30 beds on each floor, so even if one floor was done, that's an extra 30 beds which would be huge." Hospital staff say the current 148 beds are regularly overcapacity. Photo: Health Minister Mike de Jong greets the media at VJH (P.McIntyre)
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| Honourable Michael de Jong Minister of Health Room 337, Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 Phone: 250 953-3547 Fax: 250 356-9587 E-mail: hlth.minister@gov.bc.ca ------------------------- E-mail: eric.foster.mla@leg.bc.ca | |||
| Office: East Annex Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 | Constituency: 3209 31st Avenue Vernon, BC V1T 2H2 | ||
| Phone: | 250 356-9574 | Phone: | 250 503-3600 |
| Fax: | 250 356-0596 | Fax: | 250 503-3603 |
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