As a former RDCK director, Kootenay Lake Hospital board member, and past chairman of Save Our Services (SOS), I would like to remind my friends and neighbours that Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson has become a pale shadow of its former self.
We have no surgeons. We have no ICU. There are insufficient beds with the accompanying pressure for patients to leave quickly whether they are ready or not. Many just don’t get admitted.
The IHA bureaucracy is expanding and flourishing while patient care falls behind. Medical professionals are overworked and morale is low.
If we give our votes in this local election to any of the candidates who are known to be supporters of the Liberal government, which has persistently and knowingly downgraded our hospital, then we are failing in the struggle to remain healthy and whole.
This situation won’t improve until we elect representatives committed to the restoration of our services. Finding out who is who before you vote is the healthy thing to do.
Earl Hamilton
Nelson