SaltWire E-Edition

‘Give me $2.8 billion in oil revenues and I’ll spend it tomorrow’

So much to do, so little cash — a look inside the health care shopping list.

BARB SWEET barbara.sweet @thetelegram.com @Barbsweettweets

Seven snowblowers for seven clinics in Labrador. A nursing home in Bay St. George that needs $8.2 million in upgrades.

These are just a few examples from a long, pricey list of healthcare priorities submitted to the Department of Health.

In a cash-strapped province, not everything on the list can be funded.

But some things are just hard to fathom, like why remote clinics in Nain, Rigolet, Natuashish, Cartwright, Makkovik, Postville and Hopedale couldn’t get a $5,000 snowblower.

NDP MHA Lela Evans, who represents Torngat Mountains and is from Makkovik, recalls a line of people standing outside this past winter during a COVID outbreak to get tested, as required by contract tracing, and how unfair it was for those with mobility issues.

“The door was so far down, you had these gigantic steps made out of snow,” Evans said, noting it’s an issue of safe access and egress.

“It’s not something of convenience so the maintenance person don’t have to shovel. We could get a massive amount of snow in a 24-hour period… You got to have the right equipment.”

‘SHOULD SEND AN ALARM BELL’

As for the Bay St. George long-term care facility in Stephenville Crossing, the place was constructed in the 1970s and should be replaced for the sake of residents and staff, says PC Stephenville-port au Port MHA Tony Wakeham, who has petitioned the province for a new build.

Wakeham said the facility is not in keeping with the physical layout ncessary for its level of care in the modern day.

“It is one of the oldest remaining long-term care facilities in the province,” he said.

Wakeham credited the staff and maintenance people with keeping it up. But, he says, the electrical upgrades required, according to the 2021-22 repairs and renovations priority listing — only $750,000 was granted of the $2 million requested — as well as $6 million in kitchen, washroom, interior, exterior, envelope and ventilation upgrades, are proof it’s time to replace the facility.

“I question why it has taken government so long to recognize that and to have a plan in place for its replacement,” Wakeham said.

“What government should be doing now is committing to the people in this particular region, ‘Yeah, it has outlived its useful life… To request $8.2 million should send an alarm bell to someone ...They need to make that decision to stop putting money into old buildings.”

Only $1.2 million of the upgrades for the Bay St. George facility were funded.

ANNUAL EXERCISE

The four regional health authorities in the province submitted capital funding lists to the province in 2021-22 and got less than half what they asked for.

It’s a par-for-the-course, annual exercise — the lists get submitted and the priorities assessed between department and health authority officials.

The lists totaled more than $113 million and roughly $48 million was approved by the provincial Department of Health.

These annual submissions, obtained through a freedom of information request by Saltwire, contain everything from those snowblowers to roof repairs for nursing homes to morgue tables and freezers to all types of medical equipment.

None of the $5,000 snowblowers for those rural Labrador clinics were approved, by the way. So they’re back on the 2022-23 submission list.

Each year, healthcare foundations, community groups and individual donors take care of things related to patient comforts, such as family waiting rooms, as well as some equipment.

But according to Labrador Grenfell Health, it does not use donations to fund facility operational items like snow blowers.

“The list is reviewed regularly and items are identified and prioritized yearly, based on key considerations including patient safety, quality care, employee and workplace safety, ability to meet clinical standards of care (including Accreditation Canada certification), as well as age of equipment and innovation. A prioritized list is submitted for government funding consideration once a year. Unfunded items remain on the list for the following budget cycle,” Labrador Grenfell said in a statement.

Eastern Health submitted an equipment priority list worth $37.3 million and got $13.69 million. Its ask for renovations and repairs was $18.7 million but only received $13.4 million.

Western Health asked for $18.7 in renos and repairs and got $3.75 million; Labrador Grenfell asked for $7.47 million and got $4 million; while Central Health asked for $12.8 million and got $6.8 million.

For equipment, Labrador Grenfell asked for $3 million and got $1.6 million; Western asked for $8.7 million and got $1.98 million and Central asked for $6 million and got $3 million.

‘WORK IN PROGRESS’

Health Minister John Haggie is comfortable that all the critical items and any renovation and repairs related to life safety are prioritized and get done.

“If it’s a life safety issue, it gets to the top of the list very quickly … Government has always been challenged to do all the repairs and maintenance simply because of budgetary constraints. There’s a desire to put money into new projects,” he said of the shopping list.

“It’s a work in progress every year.”

Sometimes, said Haggie there are savings and unspent money that can be reallocated or items see a change in priority making them more urgent. But the juggling act goes on. Among the things that need to be replaced more urgently in the 2022-23 fiscal year are machines such as some MRIS and CT scanners that have come to the end of their life. — hence an increase to $27 million for capital equipment purchases. There are $23 million for repairs and renos.

Haggie said if there were another cash cow of royalties he could spend it all on health.

“You give me $2.8 billion in oil revenues and I’ll spend it tomorow.” he said.

As for the snowblowers, Haggie said snowclearing is done differently in Labrador and he’s also confident that there aren’t safety issues in regards to access to the clinics.

“People who live in rural communities they do things differently,” Haggie said.

“We have not been made aware of physical access issues… Bearing in mind they don’t by in large plow roads in the smaller communities. They treat them in a different way and that’s a cultural decision. That’s how they like to do it.”

As for the entire list, which includes some roof and building repairs that did not get funded around the province, Evans questions the impact of deferring maintenance until they become bigger, costlier problems.

“It is going to balloon; it is going to go get so big they are not going to know where to start,” Evans said.

She’s a fan of the Health Accord, but does not agree with one provincial health authority — which has already been announced — insisting Labrador should have its own.

Evans’ concern is that rural and remote needs could fall further down the priority list behind the metro facilities and other, more urban, centres.

“They are going to be so removed and out of the touch with the priorities in terms of what the needs are,” Evans said.

Haggie said there will be a mechanism that allows standardization of care, with the recognition that some specialty services as they are now will have to be accessed by travelling to bigger centres.

Communities, he said, will also have input, as it is not about restricting access but making it better.

And as for the Bay St. George long-term care home? Haggie said he can’t recall Western Health asking for it to be replaced.

Western Health would not discuss it, referring The Telegram instead to the Department of Health.

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2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

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