Re: A lab collection service is coming to Sicamous.
Folks living in rural British Columbia, miles and many weather conditions away from laboratory services, readily understand how useful this service can be.
For many years, lab collection services have been provided by our local physician Dr. Jack Beech. Two mornings a week his office is filled to over-flowing with folks needing blood work for the myriad of conditions that need regular blood testing – like diabetes, prostate cancer, thyroid disorders, and epilepsy, to name just a few.
These people are predominately elderly, fragile and ill. Many are no longer driving, much less attempting driving in winter conditions. That Dr. Beech provides this service to his patients is a huge gift.
Dr. Beech puts the specimen collections into the array of different sized, different coloured collection tubes needed for many types of blood tests. Then he drives the specimens to the lab in Salmon Arm, two days a week, year round.
In 2011, a private lab applied for a licence to provide the entire Eagle Valley with lab collection services.
Interior Health was given the licence instead, back then in 2011.
In April 2012, Dr. Beech was advised that the Interior Health could not meet their licensing commitment of a two-day-a-week lab collection service and ECG availability in Sicamous.
They said that staff shortages were resulting in long lineups at the Salmon Arm blood lab.
Therefore, Sicamous folks were punished.
Now, in March 2013, with $10,000 from the Shuswap Hospital Foundation, it seems Interior Health is almost ready to give Sicamous and Area E residents one half-day a week of lab collection services, each Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
I bet if the lab collection licence had been granted to Life Labs we would not have waited until March 2013 for one half day a week of services as opposed to the two day a week collection service and ECG availability. Would Life Labs have gone begging to the Shuswap Hospital Foundation for money?
And knowing we have at least one retired lab technician living here (that would likely be delighted to work just part-time close to home) I feel that Life Labs likely would not have punished Sicamous and Area E residents by whining about their staff shortages.
Teresa Andrews