Dear editor,
The new hospital is going to be built and that is a good thing. The site is not great, the access to the new highway is dismal, but that is not the main concern.
We were supposed to have a regional hospital in the Comox Valley. The spin doctors of VIHA came to us, physicians, and said, "Yes, your community is growing and you qualify for a
regional hospital serving the whole North Vancouver Island.”
The term “regional hospital” has evaporated. The original number of hospital beds will be reduced.
There will be a smaller number of ICLJ/CCU beds than in St Joseph’s Hospital. There will be a smaller number of ALC beds for patients waiting for the beds in long-term care facilities.
Without new long-term care facilities built in the Comox Valley, the new hospital will be overrun by patients waiting for placement. Unless there is enough operating room time
for a minimum of five general surgeons, there will still be a shared call between Comox Valley and Campbell River.
Unless these points are addressed, our beautiful new facility will be as crippled in its ability to deliver care as our good old St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Dr. J.J. Simice,
Comox