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Petition
Presented May 20, 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 another
opportunity to submit a petition on behalf of the
residents of the Southwest Coast of the Province with
respect to dialysis services in that particular area. I
think this is the tenth time I have presented the
petition. Every time I go back to the district, every
weekend, I end up with another suitcase full, so there
is obviously no shortage yet of the concern in that
particular area for this particular issue.
We have solved a big
issue in the Province with health care this morning -
the government and the nurses’ union - and hopefully
government, particularly the minister, will find its way
clear to solve what is an equally important issue to the
residents of that particular area of the Province out
there.
There are different
options, of course. There is a dialysis satellite
facility, there is a home dialysis piece, but right now
the government is not giving due attention to
considering even what the options are. That is the
purpose of the petition, of course, to bring to the
minister’s attention and the people in the Department
of Health and the people in Western Health, in
particular, that the issue is not going to go away.
People have dialysis needs at the present time and no
doubt those needs will continue. In fact, the statistics
I have been made aware of show that it is on the
increase. Instead of decreasing, there seems to be an
increase in the need for this type of treatment.
Right now, of course,
there is a price tag attached to doing all this, number
one, in terms of equipment, and also there is a need for
trained personnel to do it once you have it. In our
case, as we pointed out, the people of the area are
prepared to raise the funds to provide the equipment.
That is not an issue. Government normally has provided
this equipment, I understand, in Labrador, on the Burin
Peninsula, and in St. Anthony. We people on the South
West Coast of the Province feel this is important enough
and urgent enough that, if we have to, we will raise the
funds ourselves. Now, if government treats us like they
would treat everybody else, they would chip in and help
out, but it is important enough that we will raise the
funds ourselves.
The other piece of this,
of course, is you have to have a place to put it. We
have a place to put it, and that is at the Charles L.
Legrow Health Centre in Port aux Basques. Everybody
then, from Grand Bruit, LaPoile, right on up to the
Codroy Valley could access that particular service at
that facility. It saves them traveling three times a
week. By the way, if anybody did the math and figured
out what it currently costs government to ship these
patients three time a week, right now, into Corner Brook
to get the treatment done, either by taxi or for gas for
their own families, and the cost of feeding them when
they are in there –
MR. O'BRIEN: (Inaudible).
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: I
say to the Member for Gander, maybe this is not
important for him but it is important for the people of
my district and I will stand on my feet when I have the
right to stand on my feet and speak for the District of
Burgeo & LaPoile every time I have the right to do
so. I won’t take my seat for the likes of you, thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh,
oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr.
Speaker, this is my tenth time in saying this, and I
will continue to present the petitions.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh,
oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo & LaPoile.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have three
minutes. I think I have used my allotment on this
petition, but you can rest assured I will be back again
and I will continue to speak out on behalf of the people
of Burgeo & LaPoile, as I have done since 1999, on
every issue that is of importance to them. Nobody in
this House or anywhere else is going to tell me to stop
doing that.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. |
