Access to health care services is one of the major issues facing rural British Columbians.
One only has to look to Elkford in the Elk Valley and the ‘temporary’ closure of the community’s emergency department that has been shuttered for the past two years.
And that’s not to mention rolling emergency department closures across the Okanagan and Vancouver Island.
But beyond the day-to-day health care needs of East Kootenay patients are the challenges posed by relative geographic isolation from the rest of the province.
For specialized medical services — such as radiation therapy — access is much closer across the provincial border in places such as Calgary and Lethbridge, as opposed to Kelowna and the Okanagan. However, Alberta has restricted B.C.-based patients from accessing specialized medical services, an internal political decision based on strained capacity.
Canada’s provincial leaders are set to meet in Nova Scotia in the coming weeks where inter-provincial cooperation on a number of issues, including health care, will be on the agenda, according to B.C. Premier David Eby.
“One of the topics will be how we can better use scarce resources across Canada and stop competing with each other with higher and higher bids for limited health care professionals because all we’re doing is stretching our provincial budgets without actually increasing the level of care,” Eby said, during an interview with the Cranbrook Townsman editorial staff on Oct. 11.
Eby noted the B.C. is “doing very well” with recruiting internationally trained nurses and doctors coming into the health care system but are running into challenges with provincial regulatory colleges to get them accredited and into health care facilities.
“I think it’ll be a lively discussion and hopefully one we’ll be able to make some ground on,” Eby continued. “I think there’s lots for Alberta and British Columbia to cooperate on, but also the Yukon and British Columbia.
“And it’s not just health care, it’s energy, like electricity, and other shared connection points, trade corridors and so on that we have to do better working on and I’m hoping the federal government can take a stronger lead in some of those areas.”
While provinces administer their own health care systems, does the federal government have a role in sorting out the inter-provincial health care barriers?
“I think that the focus to date from the feds has been on health care funding, which is welcome and important, but the piece that doesn’t cost money, the coordination piece is one that really only they can do to the level that we need it done,” Eby said, citing federal jurisdiction on coordinating immigration policy with the ability of health care professionals to move between provinces.
The federal government can also take a leadership role on pharmaceuticals and pharmacare plans, Eby added.
Last week, all provincial and territorial health ministers and ministers with mental health portfolios met in Prince Edward Island, to discuss progress on shared priorities.
One of those items included a commitment to implement a process for a pan-Canadian licensing for doctors and nurses to be able practice all provinces and territories without running into inter-provincial accreditation issues.
One health care item of East Kootenay significance — one among many — is access to radiation therapy services, as Kelowna is the closest BC Cancer Clinic, a seven-hour drive away.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix recently announced matching $10 million grants each to the Canadian Cancer Society and Hope Air to boost their travel assistance programs for cancer patients living in rural areas.
Much of that assistance is earmarked for travel and accommodation costs for patients and caregivers, with expanded income threshold eligibility.
Specific to the East Kootenay, both organizations are ramping up their services in the region.
The Canadian Cancer Society will be expanding it’s Wheels of Hope program in the Kootenays, while Hope Air is also strengthening it’s health-care referral network to key communities, including Cranbrook.
However, while the Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook services flights to B.C. and Alberta, there is no direct flight service from Cranbrook to Kelowna, as travellers have to make connector flights in Vancouver or Calgary.
The potential expansion of cancer care services is a key issue for local officials on the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District board, an entity comprised of elected mayors and regional area directors that oversee capital infrastructure projects at regional health care facilities.
Interior Health is currently working on a business plan to build a new second tower at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital that will house expanded oncology and renal services.
Local officials have been lobbying the Ministry of Health to include radiation therapy services into that new build, as it requires a specialized bunker with a radiation shield.
Concept plans are expected to be presented at the next hospital board meeting in November.
In terms of provincial cancer care infrastructure expansion, four new BC Cancer clinics are in the works in Nanaimo, Surrey, Burnaby and Kamloops to complement the existing six clinics.
And while each centre can cost upwards of a few hundred million dollars, the challenge isn’t limited to a massive investment to get the specialized infrastructure in place, according to Eby.
Simply put, the province needs more health and human resources across the health care spectrum, he added.
“When it comes to cancer care, to health care generally in the province right now, the major constraint on us is the people that deliver the care and that’s everything from the kind of entry-level LPN [Licensed Practical Nurse] care aide, all the way through to the most specialized cancer doctors,” Eby said.
“…Whether it’s mental health and addictions, cancer care, heart care or whatever, family doctors, the challenge has been the people to physically deliver the care.”
Eby highlighted the province’s health and human resources strategy launched last year that is intended to recruit, retain, train and redesigning workflows to optimize scopes of practice.
Specific to that strategy, Eby touted the creation of a new medical school at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey Campus that is expected to have it’s first intake in September 2026, as well as the expansion of the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine to 40 new undergraduate seats and as many as 88 new residency seats.