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Petition
Presented May 14, 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 appreciate an
opportunity to present my eighth petition in this House
on behalf of the residents of Southwestern Newfoundland,
in the communities from LaPoile, Rose Blanch, Grand
Bruit, Isle aux Morts, Burnt Islands, Fox Roost-Margaree,
Port aux Basques, Cape Ray, and the Codroy Valley, with
respect to the lack of dialysis facilities and services
in that particular region.
As indicated earlier, we
have been trying to get the attention of the Minister of
Health for quite some time now. In fact, he did have a
meeting with council in Corner Brook on this issue some
months ago. He undertook, at that time, to get back to
them. We assumed that would be in this century at least,
but so far he has not even seen fit to deliver a letter
to them, acknowledging that he had the meeting, or that
he was having anyone look at the issue and so on. I
guess you can say he paid lip service to the issue.
Hopefully government
will, as a result of raising the issue here, and the
other people who are protesting the current sad
situation that exists, hopefully he will have somebody
directed in Western Health to at least look at this
issue.
Now, I understand there
is a committee currently in place at the hospital there,
consisting of the chief of staff, and he is also talking
to the person – there is a doctor in Corner Brook who
looks after the dialysis services and actually provides
the service and the care for the residents from that
area who have to travel to Corner Brook. Hopefully, once
we get some issues resolved – there is an issue, for
example, of what space in the building would be used,
should such a service come about, and the actual design
of the service. For example, do all eight or nine or ten
of these people need the satellite-based system or are
there some who, for example, can use home dialysis?
Those types of things are currently being looked at, but
we do know that not all of them will be suitable
candidates for home dialysis so we are still going to
have the issue at the end of the day, and it is an issue
that has been there for quite some time and needs to be
addressed.
We have seen government
deal with it in certain areas of the Province. They have
dealt with it in St. Anthony. They have dealt with it in
the Burin Peninsula region and so on. Labrador West is
also now on the radar as needing similar type services,
and hopefully government will address it. Certainly, the
people in my part of the Province that I represent are
no less citizens and no less deserving of care than most
other persons in the Province, and if you can see fit to
do it in those then I suggest it is only fair that you
see the service is extended to the people of
Southwestern Newfoundland.
Mr. Speaker, the people
out there have their heads turned to the issue. The
people in Western Health, I understand, have their heads
turned to the issue. If we could only get the head of
the Minister of Health tuned in to the issue and he
would get on to it with his staff we might see something
happen, because at the end of the day the Department of
Health has to sanction that this be done.
Hopefully, the minister
will tune in to the issue and at least respond that he
is even aware and cognizant of the issue and that he is
prepared to have a look at it. That would give the
people there at least some sense of hope and not be
totally desperate as if this government and that
minister in particular seem to just not even care that
it exists.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. |
