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Petition
Presented May 4, 2009
Dialysis Unit for Western Newfoundland
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MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to make a
petition on behalf of the residents of Southwestern
Newfoundland, particularly those areas from Grand Bruit,
LaPoile, Rose Blanche, Burnt Islands, Isle aux Morts,
Margaree, Port aux Basques, Cape Ray, the Codroy Valley,
and that is with respect to the issue of dialysis and
the need for a satellite dialysis facility at Port aux
Basques.
We have a varying number
of people in our area who, over the years, need
dialysis. Sometimes it is down as low as four and five;
other times it is up over twelve and fourteen. We
average around nine or ten at any given time. Of course,
in order to access it right now they have to travel.
Some go to Stephenville for some treatment; some go to
Corner Brook. In any case they have to travel. If you go
to Stephenville, a round trip anywhere from that area -
and they do it three times a week - runs you about a
minimum of 350-400 kilometres per trip.
Besides the cost of that,
of course, there is the anguish and stress that it
causes on the patients themselves and their families.
They get transported in three times a week, and that is
arduous enough as it is, let alone dealing with the
debilitating effects of the treatments.
Now, they have been
trying for some years. We got the ear of the minister
last year in Corner Brook. We did not get his pen, or we
did not get his promise. He did not write the letter
explaining to us where it stood. We are still waiting
for that, some six or seven months later, and nobody has
heard from his since that. We certainly have had no
commitment. Western Health, of course, cannot move and
do anything without some commitment from the department.
We see them popping up
all over the place. We see them going to St. Anthony, we
see them going to Marystown, we see them going to
Carbonear; but, of course, you do not see them where you
have 10,000 or 15,000 people on the Southwest Coast, and
that is where the need exists as well. Notwithstanding
that we have been complaining for years now that we need
this.
It has led to, in some
cases, people actually having to move, and move their
families, because they could not afford it any more.
They just financially could not afford it and they could
not emotionally afford it, because of the stress that it
took upon them in order to do this.
Again, I call upon the
minister. We have already given an undertaking from that
area that we, the residents of that area, would pay the
cost of any equipment associated with that. We would do
the necessary fundraising. We already have funds raised
that could be used for that.
With regard to the
personnel needed to operate the facilities, we have
nurses. I understand it takes about a six-week course. I
checked with one of the senior nurses at Port aux
Basques, who has been there for thirty years or so, and
she tells me that it would take about a six-week course
to train a nurse to be able to administer the dialysis
machine. Now, I do not understand it. If you have nurses
who are prepared to undertake the training, several of
them, and if you have the money available to buy the
equipment, I do not know why the Department of Health
would be so upset.
I notice Labrador has a
similar need. We do not hear their member up speaking
about it. I do not know, maybe he is not allowed to
speak about it, but this member is certainly allowed to
speak about it and intends to speak about it because it
is a need for the area, and I will continue to speak
about it until such time as we get some action.
Again, I do not
understand the logic of an area that has the need, is
prepared to buy the equipment themselves, the nurses are
prepared to undergo the six-week training to do it, and
yet this department will not permit it. Now, there is
something missing in that logic.
The equipment is the most
important part; it costs hundreds of thousands of
dollars. We will raise the money. We made no qualms
about it; we will raise the money. We put hundreds of
thousands of dollars into the Western health care system
in the past ten years for other needs, no matter what
they were. We always do our share. We will buy the
equipment, I say to the minister and I say to this
government. We have the personnel who are prepared to
train. Why can’t this happen and stop the anguish that
it is causing the people, the patients and the families
on the Southwest Coast of this Province?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. |
